Poker SA Classic at the Maylands Hotel

This past week, the team at Poker SA announced the schedule for their biggest tournament of the year - the four day Poker SA Classic Series, running April 15-19 at the Maylands Hotel, in May lands, South Australia.

This series is packed with action, offering a variety of tournaments over the four-day span that are sure to include something for every poker enthusiast.

The SA Classic kicks off on Wednesday, April 19 with a $250 6-handed Pot Limit Omaha event at 4pm, to start a thrilling five days of poker action. The 6-handed tournament offers a $25k starting stack for all players, a deep stack that is typical of SA Classic play, along with 25 minute blind levels. This deep stack format allows players plenty of time to manoeuvre, and guarantees that all players will see plenty of time on the felt.

Thursday's SA Classic slate offers a $300 8-handed Texas Hold 'Em event, with the same format as Wednesday's PLO event - $25k starting stack, and 25 minute blinds. Players will be allowed a maximum of one re-entry into the tournament, up until the first break, when late registration cuts off as well.

Friday is the SA Classic Terminator event, a thrilling No-Limit Hold 'Em poker contest with a twist. Entry to the 4pm tournament is $290. From that $290, each player will have a bounty on them of $80, and for every player you knock out of the tournament, you collect their $80 bounty, in addition to the main prize pool. Starting stacks are once again $25k, with 25 minute levels and one optional re-entry.

Saturday marks the start of headlining event of the Poker SA Classic - the $1,600 No-Limit Hold 'Em Main Event at 12:30pm. This two-day tournament draws a huge field annually, ensuring the winner will take home a big cash from this hefty prize pool. The Main Event is the deepest stack tournament of the series, offering $35k starting stack, 45 minute blind levels and no re-entries. The Main Event will surely test the skills of its entrants, with players chasing a big-time payday. 

The Poker SA Classic rounds out on Sunday with its No-Limit Hold 'Em High Roller Event starting at 3:30pm. The High Roller Event boasts a $2,400 buy-in for serious poker players, with $25k starting stacks, 25 minute blind levels, and no re-entries. 

If all of this great poker action wasn't enough, the Poker SA Classic Series is notorious for its stellar food and beverage services. Every tournament on the schedule comes with premium meals and drinks service, inclusive in the tournament entry fees. The Main Event and High Rollers Event go even beyond that, offering a full silver platter food service during breaks, which is also included in the tournament entry fee. Last year's silver platter even included such delicacies as prawns and lobster tails! 

Players come from across the world to compete in the Poker SA Classic Series, a testament to the fantastic hospitality and tournament action offered at the Maylands Hotel for this series. It is the first of two major events being held by Poker SA this year, with the popular Diamond Series scheduled to run in October.

This article is written by John Hawthorne who writes for www.odds.com.au. When he's not writing about poker or horse racing he can be found at the race track applying his master knowledge about how to break even.

Adelaide Casinos and Other Poker Playing Options

Fortunately for us, we’re not in America and online poker in Australia is legal everywhere. That said, there’s always something appealing about the riffle of real chips and the social interaction you get at a live poker table.

Let’s face it, it can get a little lonely on the keyboard, so meeting some face-to-face poker players is nice. You can a little interaction and banter with your game and watch your opponent’s faces for tells. Something you don’t get to do often online unless you play with a webcam.

If you’re in Adelaide and you want to set down that mouse and take to the real, rather than virtual, felt then what are your best bets? There are some great spots to play poker, and we’ve looked at some of the best below.

SKYCITY Adelaide – Adelaide’s largest casino

The obvious port of call is SKYCITY Adelaide in the historic Railway Station building. South Australia’s premier casino destination is the city’s tenth largest employer and the main venue for live poker in a professional setting you’ll find in Adelaide.

In SKYCITY Adelaide you’ll find the appropriately-named Poker Zone. Located on the casino’s first floor next to the Grandstand Bar, this poker venue offers both cash games and tournaments all week. Their flagship tournament series, the Adelaide Casino Poker Championship, is a highlight of the casino’s tournament offering and features a $2,400 buy-in Main Event.

Other tournaments on offer range from $20 rebuys to a $125 deepstack freezeout and the monthly “Big $2,500 Tuesday”, guaranteeing a first place prize of $2,500 for a $125 buy-in. The tournament calendar keeps things varied, so phone ahead to find out what events are coming up when you plan to head down.

Cash game players will find Hold ’em, Omaha, and Crazy Pineapple on offer. Typically these are $2/$2 blind games with a minimum buy-in of $40 and a cap of $200. You’ll also find a refreshing “Express Table” option with a 20-second shot clock on all decisions – no more twenty-somethings taking six minutes to check back the river! These tables are $2/$3 or $5/$5 for Hold ’em, or $1/$2 for Omaha games. High rollers can find bigger games on occasion, with $4/$8 up to $5/$10 No Limit and $10/$20 Limit running on an irregular basis. Occasionally, $10/$20 No Limit games will run.

Note that the Poker Zone is closed on Sunday and Monday (so you can get your Sunday tournament fix online without missing any live action) and open from 18:00 – 03:30 on weekdays, 18:00 – 05:30 on Friday and Saturday.

Other Adelaide poker games

Fancy something a bit more cheap and cheerful, perhaps away from the bustle of a big casino?

Rivered Poker Thursdays at the Verve Bar & Kitchen, run by the Rivered Poker League, take place at 17:30 each week with a $25 buy-in. Alternatively, 888 Poker Thursdays for $20 at Watermark Glenelg kick off at 19:30, while on Wednesdays the Seaford Hotel runs a $10 game, as does the Emu Hotel.

It’s well worth looking for local poker groups on Facebook – you’ll find many smaller tournaments such as the above running throughout the week.

If your penchant is cash games rather than tournaments then you may not be out of luck, as many cash games tend to spring up around the tournaments above as the early bust-outs get together for more poker fun.

Start your own home game!

Your last recourse is obviously to take matters into your own hands – why not add to the poker games going on around Adelaide?

All you need is a deck of cards, a set of chips, and a table – it doesn’t even need to be a specialised table, though if you want to add to the atmosphere and professionalism of the game it wouldn’t hurt to lay down some green felt, or even buy a poker table if you can.

A few home game tips – if you’re hosting a tournament, make sure to use a sensible blind structure; that is to say, one that doesn’t accelerate too quickly but also won’t take all night to reach the ante stages. It’s helpful to look at the WSOP or similar tournament structures and take inspiration from there.

Also, remember when it comes to chips that less is more – there’s no sense having chips worth $1 and $2, so try to go up in increments of four or five: $1, $5, $25 chips should cover any low stakes game. The less is more mantra also applies to the quantity of chips. It might look cool to have hundreds of chips in each stack but it fast becomes a nightmare to count and stack pots.

Any deck of cards will serve, though ones with large indexes (big numbers) will help. Make sure everyone is familiar with dealing, and remember to have the player to the dealer’s left cut the deck before each round – it’s traditional and safe.

After that you of course need people – again, Facebook is a great resource for finding likeminded players if you don’t have a group of friends interested in playing.

Jeffrey "Iceman" Lisandro

If you sit down at a seven-card stud table and you hear an strange accent coming off of a man others are referring to as “Iceman,” I’d be sure of what I’m doing before dropping my chips on the table, cause chances are they will all end up with him.

Jeffrey “Iceman” Lisandro was born in Perth, Australia and his mother taught him the game of poker when he was just five years old. Since then he has used that knowledge to put some serious skins on the wall, having won multiple World Series of Poker Championship bracelets, earning an impressive bankroll, and having beaten some of the very best in the world including Daniel Negranu, Nick Frangos, Phil Ivey, and Howard Lederer.

Now living mostly in Italy and occasionally in Santa Barbara, California, Lisandro, who is known primarily as a cash game specialist, has become a well known face on the touring poker tournament circuit and is well regarded as one of the best at seven card stud. During the 2009 World Series of Poker he was the first person to ever pull off a trifecta, winning all three seven-stud tournaments Stud High, Stud High-low, and Razz. That nifty feat also earned him the title of Player of the Year. He has also won a bracelet playing Pot Limit Omaha.

If you are a fan of the World Series of Poker, you may remember one incident involving Lisandro from back in 2006. Prahlad Friedman accused Lisandro of not putting in his ante during a hand and started to berate him, calling him a thief. The dealer noted that it was not Lisandro, but another player who had mistakenly forgot to add his ante in with his blind, but Friedman continued his assault, leading to a lot of friction between the two players and Lisandro threatening to “take his head off” at one point in the debate. Cooler tempers eventually prevailed and Lisandro placed 17th in that World Series, while Friedman placed 20th.

So the next time you settle in to your seat in Vegas or Atlantic City, belly up to the felt and call for chips, make sure to take a good look around at those sitting with you. Lisandro commonly wears a black fedora and chews gum at the table to help reduce the number of tells he gives away, and as his nickname of “Iceman” implies, he is not known for being very talkative at the table, and seeming quite cold and calculating. Don’t come back with empty pockets saying you weren’t warned.

This has been a guest post from Australia's latest betting news source. Check it out if you want to stay up to date on the latest poker news.