Royal Assassins Tournament

It was only the beginning of a crazy day. I had a dry run on the first table. I only won a total of 3 hands, but then again I folded almost every hand. As players dropped, I was moved to another table where I joined team members: May, Mrs Ruthless and T-Rex. There I started to build my chip stack, winning with some good hands and decent pots.

A few hands in, I was dealt pocket KK, which held and doubled me up. Another hand I had pocket TT Vs AK. He hit his Ace on the flop, but I hit my set on the river, eliminating him from the competition. On another hand, Mrs Ruthless was on SB, player from RTR on BB. I called with A7 spades, everyone else folded except the blinds.
Flop was A (clubs) 2 (clubs) 3 (spades)
Mrs Ruthless pushes All In, the player from RTR folds leaving me with a tough call. I took approximately 5 minutes deciding what to do and contemplating why she pushed. May said to ‘play my game’ so I eventually called. It was, double her up or take her out, either way the chips were going to remain with the club.
The showdown, Mrs Ruthless pushed on a flush draw against my pair of Aces. Unfortunately she didn’t hit the flush, so my pair held, taking out my team member. It was tough and I was left in doubt, whether I should’ve called or not.

Again I was moved to another table, but I was in a comfortable position with my chip stack. I raised with my KK and short stack pushes All In with AJ. She doesn’t hit on the flop, but gets her straight with runner, runner reducing my stack about 20k. Two hands later I get KK again. Again I raised and the short stack pushes All In, committing me to put in another 30k into the pot. Showdown: KK Vs AJ again! (AJ were suited clubs) Short stack flops a flush, leaving me drawing dead. After losing another big pot, I tighten up my game getting me to the final 3 tables.

With another table move, I meet up with May. The girl to May's right pushes All In, May calls. I push All In with 99, the guy next to me pushes All In. May needed to call an extra 55k, but folds her A7.
Showdown: With 3 in the hand, AJ Vs 99 Vs QQ.
What I could remember was a 7 on the flop and Ace on the turn. AJ won 95% of the pot the QQ took the side pot, ending my run from the competition. If May had called, she would have taken the whole pot, solidifying her to the final 2 tables. May missed the bus on that hand and the next 3 hands she lost her chip lead.

May pushes All In with TT, only one caller.
Showdown: TT Vs AA. The Rockets hold, eliminating May from the tournament. May had a mean roll, taking people out left and right but just fell short at the end.

C-One

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I was crippled by Ride The Rush (RTR) Player: Lina, early in the tournament.
The flop: Ace, 7, 9. Lina pushes All In with 10k. After a minute thinking what to do, I call with AQ.
Showdown: AQ (TYB) Vs A9 (RTR)
I find myself trailing. The turn and river cards made no difference, thus losing to Lina’s 2 pair. With such a big pot loss, I grinded it out for the next 3 hrs trying to recover.
With my last 5K I pushed All In pre-flop with KQ suited, which I had 3 callers.
Showdown: KQ (TYB) Vs AQ (Leven Aces) Vs 36 (suited hearts RTR- Lina) Vs AT (unknown player). All live cards. AT wins hitting on the river pairing up with Tens. That was the end of my run in the tournament; time to go annoy Nosey.

Noseys Boss

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I had a steady game till it got down to final 4 tables. With a short stack, I was dealt pocket Ten’s. Leven Ace’s player raises the bet to 23k, to which everyone folds.
The action is back to me and with only 25k, I push All In.
Showdown: Heads up – TT (TYB) Vs QQ (Leven Aces)
The flop and turn gives me a straight draw, but gives LA their set. River seals the deal for LA and knocks me out of the tourney. I leave the tournament with 4 TYBs players remaining in the game: May, C-One, Mr Ruthless & Nikko.

Nosey

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Well it was another day of poker and what a day it was. 14 TYB members going to battle at the Royal Assassins tourney. I had a semi start to my day called a few bad hands that lost me little chips but also won a few small pots. The biggest pot I won on the day was one up against Brother D.

There was a pre-flop raise from Brother D of $1k (I think the blinds were 100-200), there were 4 callers and I flat call his raise with my pocket 7's from heaven. On the flop, there were 2 hearts and a black card, which Brother D raises $2k. Two players fold, leaving only 3 left in the hand. The turn card is another heart, Brother D checks, so too do the other players. The river card is another heart. Brother D value bets with $3k pushing the remaining players to fold. The action is back to me; I take a couple of minutes before I finally make the right decision. Brother D had AK suited diamonds.

Two hands later, I was back at it again but this time I took a stab at my bluff game. I’m on the button and I have 63 off suit. Five players flat call the blinds, I thought to myself to make a move for the blinds so I raise 3 times the blinds. Only 2 players call and on flop is A-Q-2, everyone checks. The turn card is 10, the dude on my right raises $1800, I re-raise to $3600 pushing out the other player; finding myself going heads up with the dude on my right. The river card is a 7, he raises $2400, I re-raise to $4000. Now at this time I actually thought he was going to fold, but after taking 4mins he decides to call making me automatically muck my cards (EPIC FAIL). The player was holding AJ. Little did I know at the time, I was either going to be in hand with call of the day or the biggest lay down. Its break time, and I’m sitting on around $24k.

Breaks over and I’m feeling comfortable with the amount of chips I have until Brother D pushes ALL IN. With a $100 bounty on him, pretty much the whole table call. I call with QJ (suited diamonds) but I was also in the hand with fellow TYB player Niko.
The flop is K(d) K(h) 8(d), the player on my right raises $6k, I instantly call. Everyone flops, till the action is on Niko who pushes All In, with $20k. Player on my right folds and the action is back on me. I was convinced that my flush was coming (EPIC FAIL) so I eventually called.
Showdown: QJ (Bakerboy) Vs K5 (Niko) Vs 77 (Brother D)
I’m on a flush draw where Niko has hit trips on the flop and Brother D has pair of 7s. The turn card is another King, ending my hopes of winning a big pot. Niko takes out Brother D and wins the bounty. I am crippled from that big hand.

Three hands later I have A-6. The flop is A-J-2, I raise 1600, the player to my right re-raises pushing me All In.
Showdown: A6 (Bakerboy) Vs AA (unknown player) I am drawing dead and nothing helps me on the turn or river; thus ending my tournament run. It was time to throw the ninja bomb… see ya wouldn’t wanta be here… LOL

Bakerboy

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Highlights:

• T-Rex and Unique's first tournament 
• Nikko takes out Brother-D (bounty) with Quad Kings
• 5 TYB players making final 4 tables
• 2 TYB players on final table
• Mr Ruthless takes out 7th place
• Nikko split pot top two prizes

TYB Crew ready to rumble

Last minute pep talk

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Four Cornerz Tournament

Underground Poker at its finest, welcome to the Four Cornerz Tournament. With a massive turnout of 200 players, this tournament will have to be considered the biggest outside the casino put together. And with only 7 TYB players representing on the day, the odds seemed formidable. But this tournament served a secondary purpose, to stamp the teams’ footprint on the poker scene.

The host, Four Cornerz, didn’t waste any expense with the tournament setup. With the well-presented invites, customised poker chips and big venue, everything was set for an excellent day for poker. The starting chip stack is 12k and blinds start 25/50. This is poker and with the top prize being a cool $2k so begins the battle.

Bakerboy had some issues reading the cards on the table. After losing a lot of chips early, he couldn’t recover and found himself eliminated from the tournament early. As players drop left and right, some tables are broken down and the players were distributed amongst the other tables. Numbers finally lands a decent hand, pocket Jacks. With a small stack he bets half of his stack, everyone folds until its back to on the Big Blind. She calls Numbers All In, Showdown: JJ Vs AT.
Flop is 3-7-A and the turn another Ace and river a six. Number is eliminated from the competition.

On her table, Nosey calls pre-flop. On the flop her opponent hits the King, top pair. He bets $3k, Nosey re-raises to $6k to which he calls. The turn card is a rag, the caller checks and Nosey bets $6k, bet is called. River is a Jack and the caller pushes with a $10k bet, Nosey calls. Showdown: Nosey AA Vs Caller KJ, opponent hits his two pair on the river taking Nosey is out of tourney. Pocket Aces get cracked.

The blinds eventually become the players’ worst enemy; Rewa Hard Caller was not immune. Finally with a decent hand, Rewa Hard Caller pushes All In, to which two players call his bet.
Showdown: Rewa Hard Caller KK Vs 55 Vs A4
Rewa Hard Caller is looking good. But the turn card is a 5, ending his run in the tournament.

Mr Ruthless managed to accumulate a good chip stack early, but when new players joined his table he couldn’t seem to catch any playable hands. With blinds at 4k/8k, he straddles ‘All In’ blind with a 12k bet. This move stops game play on the table for 5mins; to which there was only one caller. Unfortunately Mr Ruthless didn’t hit and was eventually eliminated.

Noseys Boss managed to stay in the competition with 5 tables remaining. With his chips slowly disappearing and blinds going up, he found himself on Big Blinds with 28k behind. Only 3 players in the hand, the flop is 3-3-4, everyone checks. The turn card is a Queen, everyone checks again, and the river is a 10. Noseys Boss pushes All In, Jarrah from Central Stars calls hitting the 10 on the river.

With the rest of the team eliminated, Milz is the last remaining TYB Player.
Milz breaks her pocket Kings bad streak as they hold and she advances to the final table. Milz takes 9th place from 200 players, a very impressive achievement.

This marks 4 tournaments where at least 1 TYB Player has made final table. Well done team and congratulations to TYB Player: Milz

Highlights:

• Milz takes 9th place and is the final woman left in the competition.

Bakerboy and Milz

Noseys Boss and Rewa Hard Caller

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NZPL Poker Tournament

TYB Crew returns to Mangere Cosmopolitan Club this time for the NZPL (New Zealand Poker League) Tournament

Although it was a slow start, only 9 tables in the beginning, the competition was never short of bad beats and disappointments. This is a whole another level; this one is for the books. Who could’ve imagined that TYB would ever be representing itself in a big tournament? Although new to the poker scene against well-known poker clubs such as Four Corners, Central Stars and Bad Beat, TYB wanted to earn its stripes and to be counted as a serious competitor for the title.

With 18 TYB players in attendance, there were several tables that had 2 or more on the same table at any one time. Naturally, some TYB players were to face each other and like any competition there was a winner and a loser.

Bakerboy had a poor start, being the first player in the tournament to get knocked out. Fortunately for him, every player was entitled to one re-buy; this was his opportunity to seek retribution and to change his game play.

As mentioned earlier, there were times when TYB players faced each other, two incidents in particular was Nosey Vs Lez and Noseys Boss Vs Rewa Hard Caller. As the numbers dropped, TYB players found themselves battling against each other. With only 3 tables left, the last of the 4 remaining TYB players found themselves sitting on the same table.

In the end, 3 TYB members made final table, such an excellent result for any poker club. As the final 3 players made its way to the final table the remaining TYB members overlooked from the balcony. Rewa Hard Caller pushed all in with AJ suited and was called against K6 off suit. Unfortunately the river wasn’t kind to him and was knocked out at 7th place.

A few hands later, there is an ‘All In’ call and Mr Ruthless is next to act. Without wasting a lot of time to think he calls. TYB players over looking from the balcony above gasp in amazement when the cards are revealed: A-Q off suit Vs Mr Ruthless’ J-T suited clubs. Fortunately the flop was kind and Mr Ruthless flops a flush.

With another player down, there was discussion of a 6-way split; each player to take $400 and finish the game early. After a lot of debating, Mr Ruthless (being chip leader) declines the offer, and so the game continues.

Another player is taken out and again an offer of a 5-way split is then negotiated, this time $500 to the remaining 5 players. Offer is then accepted, but the game continues for the title of NZPL champion.

Now with the prize money being divided, one player leaves the game giving the remaining 4 players to battle for the title. The 4th player didn't last long being on BB against chip leader Mr Ruthless who takes him out.  Bakerboy calls ‘All In’ blind and with a lot of thought the 3rd player calls. J3 Vs Bakerboy’s Q3. On the flop they both hit the 3, but its Bakerboys kicker plays and he eliminates another player. Heads up with Bakerboy, Mr Ruthless wins the hand and is crowned NZPL Champion.

Highlights

• 7 TYB members making final 4 tables 
• 3 TYB members on final table 
• Mr Ruthless takes out 1st place 
• Bakerboy takes out 2nd place 
• Rewa Hard Caller takes out 7th place

TYB Crew Vs NZPL

Ready to go...

Time to roll out

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Poker Fundraiser for Christchurch

In March, just a week after its 1st Tournament, TYB is invited to the Poker Fundraiser for Christchurch held at Mangere Cosmopolitan Club. This tournament was not short of competition with several other poker crews present... Hi Jack, Central Stars, Four Corners, High Life, DK (Donkey King), Bad Beat, RTR (Ride The Rush), NZPL, Chantelle Poker, Royal Assassins and Double Aces.

Despite the amount of different poker clubs present from the greater Auckland area, TYB had a massive attendance with 18 Members.

TYB Crew stamps itself as worthy poker crew.

Highlights:

• Nosey making a big move with pocket 9s hitting a set on the flop 
• Evil Uso managed to solidify a good deep run taking out 11 players. 
• 7 TYB players making it to the final 4 tables. 
• C One just missed out on the cash (bubble) but Nosey and Noseys Boss moved on to the final table. 
• Noseys Boss managed to take 2nd place and Nosey taking 5th place.

TYB Crew Represent

Hanging out before the game

TYB Crew

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