I'm back at work now after the summer break. It was a pretty relaxing three week holiday with my wife and I just hanging around in Auckland and enjoying the summer. At the start I decided that I'd try to play at least three sessions of poker each week, even though most of my regular live games were not being played during the break. As it happens, I was able to achieve this, so in between other holiday activities I got to play a fair bit of poker:

Tuesday 19th Dec, Ye Olde Bailey pub, $30 tournament.
This was actually two days before the start of my holiday but as my regular Wednesday night game had finished for the year my wife and I went to check out this evening tournament. As it happens, several of the Wednesday night regulars were also at this game, as well as a couple of others that we knew. After late entries they had five full tables. These were oval tables that sat on bar leaners and the players sat around them on bar stools. My wife and I both got about halfway through the field before being eliminated, which was probably just as well as I had to go to work the next day. 16/39.

Friday 22nd Dec, Onehunga Workingmen's Club, $30 tournament.
This was the final game for the year at the Workies and included the prize-giving. I put on my bright red island shirt for this game but couldn't find my reindeer antlers so we had to stop off at the $2 shop to get another pair, along with some flashing Santa earrings for my wife. I received a $200 prize for coming first in the final Ten Week Challenge but came nowhere in the over-all yearly points. As for the game, I finished 11th out of 20 players.

Sunday 24th Dec, PokerStars, US$11 tournament.
I couldn't find my favourite 888 tournament on Christmas eve so I entered this one on PokerStars. Two hours into the tournament, with about 50 BBs I got dealt Aces. Player1 raised, I re-raised, he went all-in and I called. He showed pocket Kings, a King hit the flop and I lost most of my stack. A few hands later, with 12BBs I was dealt KQs. Player1 min-raised and I pushed all-in. He called with pocket Kings. I hit a Queen on the flop but that's it. 106/548.

Tuesday 26th Dec, Mangere Cosmopolitan Club, $50 deep stack tournament.
Instead of joining the crowds at the Boxing Day sales my wife and I went to this game in Mangere. These guys love re-buys so I was surprised to find they were running a freeze-out tournament. But the starting stack was 100,000 with the blinds at 100/200 so there was plenty of scope for loose play with a 500 BB stack. Sure enough, I lost most of my chips to a donkey who called my initial raise with Q5 when I had JJ. He then went on to call my substantial bets with nothing but Queen high until he finally hit the Queen on the river. 26/31.

Thursday 28th Dec, PokerStars US$11 tournament.
Another PokerStars tournament. These games are on at 10.30 am. The one I usually play on 888Poker
is on at 12.30 pm. But for some reason the 888Poker games weren't on during the holiday period so I played PokerStars instead. In this one I lost my stack bit by bit and only managed to last for an hour. 309/442.

Saturday 30th Dec, Sky City Casino ring game, $180 buy-in.
I took the bus into town to play in this game, which started at about 6 pm.  I checked out the timetable for the return trip and it turns out there are a couple of late buses going my way, with the last of these at about 2 am. This is very convenient if I happen to end up playing late on any of these trips when I don't have the car. As for the game, there was an awful lot of limp-calling and I ended up doing okay. I called it a night after about 5 1/2 hours and got home not long after midnight. $197 profit.

Monday 1st Jan, Mangere Cossie, $30 re-buy and add-on tournament.
New Years' Day and another deep stack tournament at Mangere. After nearly 5 hours play my wife and I both found ourselves in the money. When we were down to just 3 players the chip leader, Aroha, suggested a deal, but I declined. I was aiming for the 1st prize of $400. My wife was eliminated in 3rd place and Aroha and I ended up with similar stack sizes. Not long after that we were both all-in. I had the better hand pre-flop but she hit and I didn't. I got $200 for 2nd place. 2/22.

Wednesday 3rd Jan, Sky City ring game, $180 buy-in.
The character of the table was different this time, with much more pre-flop raising and very little limp-calling. Two players in particular were quite aggressive before the flop. I wasn't getting good cards and decided to push the action a bit, losing $50 in an ill-conceived bluff attempt. After that I was still card dead and short-stacked as well, making for a slow night. After 4 hours I decided to quit while I still had some chips. $115 loss.

Saturday 6th Jan, Mangere Cossie, $30 tournament.
I was told that MCC planned on running two games a week this year. A $30 freeze-out on Saturdays and a $10 unlimited  re-buy and add-on tournament on Sundays. My wife and I went to check out the first of the Saturday games. Along with a handful of others from other clubs we were becoming regulars at these holiday season games. Deep starting stack, very loose play, steep blind structure. 14/30.

Tuesday 9th Jan, F Bar, $20 unlimited re-buy and add-on tournament.
This one had a strange structure. It was $20 for a 20k starting stack, with an additional 5k 'earlybird' bonus. There were unlimited $10 re-buys for 20k before the first break. Then there was a $20 add-on for a stack of 160k! And also bonus chips for bar purchases. It was basically an all-in-fest for the first hour or so with players re-buying multiple times. I just waited it out, made my add-on at the break and started playing after that. In the first hand after the break I picked up pocket Aces against a player with a monster stack. He flopped a set of threes and I made a very bad call, refusing to believe that he'd outdrawn me, and was eliminated. 13/15.

Friday 12th Jan, PokerStars US$11 tournament, 888Poker US$3 Sit 'n' Gos.
Another early finish in a PokerStars tournament, lasting for just an hour. I lost half my stack after flopping two pair with 34s and failing to stop a chaser from hitting his flush. Then I spent the rest of the time trying to stay alive with a short stack. After that I tried a few single table tournaments on 888Poker, but came out behind. 338/510. 5/9, 2/9, 7/9, 5/9.

Saturday 13th Jan, Sky City ring game, $180 buy-in.
Went home after about 1 hour of play and making bad decisions in two hands. First up, I raised with KJs and got 1 caller. The flop was Q x x, he checked, I bet, he called. The turn was another blank and we both checked. He checked the A on the river so I bet at it and he called with his Q 5, taking about $56 from me. In the second hand I had ATs and raised in position, getting 2 callers. The flop was T T J and we all checked. The turn was a K. I bet at it and got one caller. When the caller checked the river K, I foolishly bet again and got called by the player with K x. I was only ever getting called by a better hand. Another $60 thrown away. Total loss $143.

Sunday 14th Jan, 888Poker, US$12 tournament.
My last game before going back to work, back on 888.  I started real slow, hardly getting any playable cards, but towards the middle things changed and I chipped up a bit. Then I went into a decline again and spent a lot of time nursing a short stack. After a couple of hours I was approaching the bubble but had only 7 BBs left. I was desperately hoping for a hand I could go all-in with. I was dealt the following hands: 94, 64, 64, 62s, 92s, T3, 63, Q6, J6, Q3, 43. By the time I was dealt J3 I had less than 4BBs so shoved and lost to pocket sixes. I finished 5 places from the bubble. 20/110.

That was my summer holiday. Now that everyone is drifting back into town I guess some of the regular games will re-start. So I look forward to playing some more poker.