What does our good friend Tony G like to get up to when he’s not at the felt? Play Twister with a couple of Pandas of course!

With our good friend TonyG out of the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event which went on to see Oliver Speidel take both the fortune and the glory for a staggering A$1,600,000 after knocking out Kenneth Wong, let’s find out what’s in store for the Italian Pirate Max Pescatori when the Party Poker Team sails into town for the WPT Venice. And don’t dispare if you didn’t qualify to the WPT Venice then give the WPT Vienna a Whirl!

Lets rejoin where we left off with TonyG and his Real Professor to find out the result of that massive 100k Scrabble game. Will the elusive Zasko appear on the board? And like Tony told us before remember about Party Pokers rake free tournaments!

It was a great run on day two for our eight Party Poker online qualifiers who attended the Aussie Millions. When the day wrapped the team had the following in chips:

• Robert Labelle (CAN)  27,600
• Robin Ylitalo (SWE)  192,600
• Christian Glissmann (DE)  89,900
• Jeffrey Hakim (CA)  58,900
• David Sonelin (SWE)  186,200
• Sayed Jabbour (AU)  74,900
• Diego Zeiter (CH)  142,900
• Armin Zoike (DE)  84,400
• Antanas Guoga (LITH)  74,400

When play returned at the main event naturally the action started to heat up a bit down under,  ending our qualifiers day in the sun with them one by one slowly being sent to the rail. It wasn’t all bad news though as two managed to cash with:

56th Diego Zeiter from Switzerland taking home AUD$20,000 who you may remember sent our good friend TonyG packing and off to look for the Professor once again.

60th Armin Zoike from Germany  AUD$15,000

Play continues with Brett Watson sitting pretty with the $257,400 in chips, and a  good friend of Party’s James Dempsey who you’ll remember took part in our Premier League event back in November is sitting on a nice stack of $189,000 in chips, but it seems all eyes are now squarely on Phil Ivey, could this be his year?

Let’s join everyone’s favorite poker player TonyG with The Real Professor as they play Scrabble for $100k at the Aussie Millions, but hang on with Pandas? Plus he lets you know about Party Pokers rake free tournaments!

Here on the Party Poker blog we love hearing stories from the virtual rail as such.

Starting off this week it’s lmtheoceans (pictured here on the right) turn who recently won a staggering $16,000 Aussie Millions package.

When we caught up with lmtheocean recently it sure seemed he was living the highlife in Mexico, in between learning to surf, working-out and writing he’s turned to playing poker professionally.

(PartyPoker:Dany Willis): Congrats on your big win, tell us when did you first start playing poker?

(Imtheocean): Well I started to take poker seriously when I was about 18 years old. I played poker in the past, I even read a poker book or two, but it hadn’t become my passion up until that point.

Mixing it up

DW: So tell us what kind of stakes and games do you normally play when playing online or live? Do you mainly play online poker, live poker, or a mixture of both?

ITO: I’m living in Mexico right now, so I’m mainly playing online. I play as high as $1k buy-in heads-up sit-n-gos, and am hoping to start grinding $2k buy-ins soon. I visit my family about once a month, and I try to play some live poker when I’m there. I play as high as $25/$50 live.

First major live event

DW: How about live, ever played something like a WPT, EPT, or WSOP tournament?

ITO: No. I’m only 20 and have only been playing professionally for a couple of years so I haven’t had too many opportunities to play major live events so far in my career. I’m thrilled this will be my first major.

DW: Okay so outside of your poker life tell us a bit more about yourself, any cool hobbies and interests?

ITO: Since I’ve moved to Mexico, I have started to learn to surf. I’m still pretty terrible at it, but I’m hoping I’ll be ready to ride giants 6 months from now :). I love traveling. I plan on living out my dream of traveling the entire world while playing poker for the next 5 or 6 years. I also enjoy working-out and writing.

DW: Sounds great, so you mentioned you play professionally now, how did you get to that point?

ITO: Well I play poker full time now. When I graduated high school at 18, my dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I had planned on going to college on the east coast of the United States, but after he got sick I decided to postpone college so I could be at home with my family.

After passing on school, I quickly realized that poker was my passion, and I wanted to chase my dream of becoming one of the best poker players in the world. I remember telling my dad, and he was furious with me.

Looking back, I know it was much less anger he was expressing and more so fear that I was going to throw my life away chasing a pipe-dream. Sadly, my dad passed away before he got to see me start to excel at poker. It kills me that he might have died worrying that I might wind up being a total screw-up in life. I like to think he checks in on me and the family every now and again from heaven, and gets to see that we’re all doing well.

Poker Idols

DW: Well tell us then who are some of your favourite professional poker players?

ITO: There are a lot of less famous poker player’s out there who I would call my favorite’s, because they did so much to help me to get to where I am. Jon ‘Croixdawg’ Ford staked and coached me when I was first getting started, and without him I have no idea where I’d be right now.

I’m a fan of Phil Galfond, Tom Dwan, and Olivier Busquet. Galfond just seems like a great guy, and I learned a lot from watching his training videos. Dwan has been part of some of the coolest tv hands ever to air, and he’s a great ambassador for the game. He’s also the face of the internet generation, and watching him play provides a great illustration to how winning poker strategy has evolved into what it is today. Olivier Busquet is the godfather of heads-up sit-n-gos. In addition to being a great ambassador for the game, he’s also the best husng player in the world and he pushes guy’s like me to be better. I wouldn’t be scared to play with anyone, but I don’t like having to play Olivier, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be too happy to have Galfond or Dwan at my table. They’re all amazing.

The Ultimate Question

DW: Okay lets play that fun hypothetical game called “Winning Big”, you’ve won a big live event what is the first thing you’d buy with the prize money?

ITO: I’m not planning on settling down anytime in the near future, so I probably wouldn’t buy a house, car, or anything like that. I would definitely, use a fraction of that money and continue to travel and explore the world. I would also donate a good chunk to my church. The rest of the money, however, would likely go right into my poker bankroll. I plan on continuing to climb limits, until I honestly believe no matter how hard I work I can’t be good enough to win at a certain level.

DW: How about you let us in on how you ended up winning this promotion?

ITO: I had decided a couple of days prior to playing the Aussie Millions qualifier that I wanted to put more of an effort into trying to win satellites to live events. I had actually played a qualifier the night before where first prize was guaranteed to trip to Seoul to play in an APPT main event. I was fortunate enough to get to heads-up where obviously I felt like I was pushing a pretty big edge. Unfortunately, it was one of those heads-up matches where everything goes wrong, and I busted the tournament in second. Truthfully, I almost started to cry I was so upset that I came so close, and then lost it in heads-up of all ways.

Maybe it was for the best though, as I found redemption in winning the Aussie Millions qualifier the next day. Funny, when we got heads up in the Aussie Millions qualifier, I had a 3:1 chip lead, and the guy I was playing had very little heads-up experience. I ended up losing my huge chip advantage, and even coughed up the lead at one point though. I’m really thankful that I was able to keep my composure and hold when we got it in with my 2 pair vs his pair plus nut flush draw.

Party Time!

DW: So how’d you celebrate your victory?

ITO: During heads-up of the quallifier, my 3 roommates were huddled around the computer with me sweating the action. One of my roommates also had 4 other guys on a skype conference call. My headphones were on the whole time, and I was blaring music to try to block out all the chat circling around me.

When I won, there were just cheers all throughout the condo, coming from myself, my roommates, and from the computer speakers. I called my mom and my brothers and sisters. I hopped on Facebook, and messaged some buddies. After that though, I went right back to grinding lol. I think I managed to squeeze out a couple thousand in profit not including the Aussie Millions qualifier win that day, so all in all I would call it a pretty solid day of poker :)

DW: Thanks for your time Imtheocean, and good luck at the Aussie Millions. And there we have it folks, a few good tales for us all to learn from, chasing his dreams sure seems to be paying off for Imtheocean.

She’s battered and bruised. She spent a day at the circus but Melanie Weisner has heart and commitment. How did her $10,000 unicycle challenge go? See below:

I’m having a great time staying here at Crown Towers for the Aussie Millions. I go to a private area every morning to have breakfast and see all the tennis stars from the Australian Open that is being held out here at the moment.

No cooked breakfasts for them but in my time in the dining area i am able to reveal a few of their dietary delicacies. I have something very much in common with these stars at the peak of their sporting prowess.

Every single one of them seems to have had yellowtail sashimi at some point, some with jalapenos, some without. I have seen Andy Roddick eat three portions of yellowtail a number of times and have seen lots of new style salmon, baby spinach salad with dry miso.

Tennis players seem to eat sashimi by the bucket load – something they very much have in common with us poker players.

Roddick likes poker

I’m no Phil Hellmuth so you won’t see my tweets going ‘met Andy Roddick who said hi Phil, you’re the greatest – how about poker lessons in exchange for tennis lessons,’ but i know Roddick likes poker so I may have to test his mettle and heart over the next week if his schedules allow.

As I write this i have just been in the area and saw Maria Sharapova. I’m not normally a fan of Russian – Americans (Ralph Perry) but if Maria is open minded I am quite willing to lend her the guiding hand of Tony G to lead her down the path of righteousness. Who else have I seen? Andy Murray – he was smiling, Caroline Wozniacki – she seems like a nice fun girl. These tennis stars seem to get younger and younger though so it is a good job the Devilfish isn’t here.

Rising star

The player who seems to attract the most attention here though is Chinese tennis star Li Na – she reached the finals of the Australian Open last year and went on to win the French Open. I was walking to Nobu to have some yellowtail sashimi, as you do, when i saw this lady and dozens of autograph hunters. I was thinking who is that? Then i see the sun tan marks where she wore the sweat bands. It also turns out she is sponsored by Crown – she’s in the same stable as Joe Hachem. All Crown need to do now is sign me to join Joe and Li and they’ll have a winning team that qualifies. I have my PartyPoker sponsorship (and am hoping to get an exclusive corporate chequebook soon) but the G isn’t going to say no to another endorsement.

100k tournament

In the meantime I am preparing for Sunday’s 100k tournament. I had an entrance planned but it has run into some issues. I may have to enter merely as the businessman poker player which is disappointing. I’m in a relaxed mood due to my professional tennis diet though so perhaps it is the best course of action. Zasko is off guarding the empire and he had a falling out with his mate TJ over the marble of the wagyu they get so i have no pet buddies with me this time.

What about the cash games here? Patrik needs to get back to the table methinks – this weekend will get lively i predict. The nippy chiwawa Mr Negreanu and others get into town. I also heard Durrrr is on his way and that you cannot rule out an appearance from Ivey – we’ll see. I will also be joining my sponsors’ most qualified (yes those who have Aussie Millions packages) for dinner on Saturday night.

Yesterday two new members of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame were inducted – congratulations to David Gorr and Jason Gray. Both really deserve this but now they should get to the table so i can take everything they have!

From the Crown Casino in Melbourne it’s the Aussie Millions with Jungle Man and Tony G. Join us as Daniel Cates aka Jungleman talks more about his recent 100K challenge he made at the recent WPT in Prague.

We’re in the heart of summer here. Zasko is off guarding the empire in my absence and I really think 2012 will be a big poker year for me. All the best for the next 12 months to you all. Just remember, follow the guiding hand and you will be qualified!

The sun is shining and the cash action has already started here at Crown and i am hitting them harder than the giant hailstones hit my car during the freak weather here on Christmas Day. Last night, Patrik Antonius won over $1 million – enough to feed all the wolves and give him a supply of Fiji water for a lifetime. I was a small winner over 24 hours and am happy with my position (mainly playing 1000/2000 PLO). At the moment i have mainly been barbecuing the kiwis and aussies – the international menu is heating up by the day. Bobby Bellande wants a game but let’s see if we see the colour of his money – anybody got the number for BrokeLiving staking? Lol. I also heard Jungleman is coming in and all these businessmen from Macau – it is going to be a feast!

I have really got into my tennis in recent months and have just come off the court – I intend to take in as much of the Australian Open as much as possible as it is on out here coinciding with the Aussie Millions. I’m hoping to get to meet the players on Sunday night after I have played Shane Warne and Joe Hachem’s charity tournament at Crown. Hang on – am I starting to sound like the Brat? Shoot me! Warney is a good bloke and I am glad he has accepted my offer of poker lessons – he knows about heart and commitment. The buy-in for the charity tournament is AUD$1,000 with AUD$500 re-buys – come and get me, it’s all for an amazing cause. See: http://www.tswf.com.au/ for more information on the tournament – lets raise lots of money. You never know, if Bobby Bellande comes I may stake him for that!

Enjoy the rake free MTTs at PartyPoker.com – I love it! I am planning on making an entrance at the Aussie Millions – no dog this year though – it is much better than that! I will let you know very soon!