Surfer's Paradise

If you don't know by now, Gus Hansen won $1.5 million and took down the Aussie Millions. He beat Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke heads up to win.

I'm finally glad that the Aussie Millions is over. I had a blast in Melbourne especially working with the folks at the Crown Casino and at Poker News, but I finally get to explore some more of Australia. Plus living and working in a casino for two weeks straight makes me go crazy. I thought I drank a lot during the WSOP... but the damage to my kidneys after the last two weeks is irreversible. So much for all that weight I lost a couple of months ago.

I'm currently up on the Gold Coast in a town called Surfer's Paradise. Brandon Schaefer, Shecky, and I are heading to Big Day Out on Sunday which is like Cochella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza all rolled into in one huge music festival. The headliner is Tool and that should be a kick ass show. Some other bands that I like are playing like Muse, John Butler Trio, Violent Femmes, The Streets, and The Killers. After two days in Surfer's Paradise, we're heading down to Byron Bay before we end up in Sydney for Australia Day.

Anyway, we flew from Melbourne to the Gold Coast and played Chinese Poker in the airport. I got my ass handed to me and was -20 as Shecky broke even and Schaefer jumped out to a +20 lead. We all checked our bags, so at the Gold Coast airport we gambled on which bag would come out last. The loser had to buy the first round of drinks. That loser was... Shecky.

Ship it, bitch!

We're staying at the Palazzo Versace, thanks to Ralph who picked up the tab for both nights in the swanky 5 star snootfest. He doesn't just have a "black" Amex card... Ralph is such a high roller that he has a "Titanium" card and supposedly there's only like 50 of those on the planet. That card is literally made out of steel and comes with a 24-hour personal assistant... free of charge. I think his assistant is named Wang. Anyway, Wang ended up booking the Palazzo Versace which is like 600/night. Shecky told him it was out of our price range especially since we were staying two nights. Ralph said, "No worries mate!" And he picked up the tab. We love Ralph.

Jen Leo posted pics of the Palazzo on her site. Take a peek.

After dinner at a local surfer's joint down by the beach, we headed back to the Palazzo Versace and drank by the pool. We busted out the cards and played while people in tuxes and black cocktail dresses surrounded us and drank heavily as Schaefer ogled the table of 17 year old girls sitting next to us.

I broke out the deck of cards that Change100 and I used to play Chinese Poker with in Amsterdam and went on a rush to finish up +6 overall or +26 that session. Schaefer was up to +30 as Shecky went on tilt and went from 0 to -36 in a single session. We added 2-7 Triple Draw to the middle hand and that put me at a serious disadvantage. Shecky plays high stakes on Triple Draw on Poker Stars while Schaefer has been known to play 300/600 against Phil Hellmuth on UB. I was way outmatched but held my own. The free-flowing booze leveled the playing field.

We shall play more in the morning after a trip to the beach and before we head to Big Day Out.