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 I have been playing poker in live tournaments for almost 2 years now - intermittently playing freerolls at first with THPA at Ourimbah RSL and then as I built a bankroll have played more regularly over the last year, moving to the THPA HighRoller Friday Tourneys at Diggers, and when that disappeared now Settlers with PDU on Friday nights. I had played a couple of 2-day Satellites last year (a satellite is where a lot of players pay a small entry fee and compete for a ticket(s) in a large / expensive tournament) but was too impatient the first time, and took a calculated risk to make the Final Table the second time with a decent stack which didn't pay off (I made the FT but with a short stack of chips - hard to win from there). I did learn from both of those tournaments, and so I felt ready - and bankrolled - to play a "real" (not a satellite tourney) 2 day tournament late last year.
I played the inaugural Central Coast Poker Championships this weekend just gone and won the Main Event – pretty happy :) We started with 121 players who each bought in for $110, of which $10 goes to the organisers (covers wages of staff, gear usage etc) and the $100 remainder into the prize pool, so $12,100 in total, with $250 for 9th and 8th place, working up to $1800 for 3rd, $2420 for 2nd and $4,600 for the winner. We started 4pm on Saturday and played until 9 were left (the Final Table) which was 3:30am Sunday morning, then back at 2pm Sunday for the Final Table. There’s a blurb below lifted off THPA 's website.
I played my best poker, although the main difference in this tourney was my hands held up – that is, when I got my chips in good, such as an 80% or 90% favourite to win, my opponent didn’t hit that lucky couple of cards to beat me, as happens quite a lot (and seemingly a lot more than the odds would suggest!). I had to overcome a lot of challenges - I was moved 8 times to different tables in the first 5 or 6 hours, which meant it was hard to get a read on players, and build an image which you could profit from later on - it also means you miss a lot of hands as you move tables and chips. I was very tired at 3am on Sunday morning having played 11 hours, and so were my opponents - the difference is, I play a very maths-based fundamental style of poker calculating player hand / betting / raising ranges, stack size, position, pot odds / implied odds vs hand odds which involves a lot of probability crunching to make optimum decisions, whereas many of my opponents just play their hand values and make shove or fold preflop decisions - when you are tired it gets a lot harder to play my style optimally, and my adjustments weren't the best either. Having taken some risks and accumlated a good chip lead with blinds at 15K / 30K, I was a bit surprised to find out they were wound back the next day as we started the FT, as the higher the blinds compared to stacks the more of an advantage it is to have a large chip lead, but I was more concerned about the positions of various players, as the 2nd biggest stack had position on me, a crucial advantage for him. Despite all these challenges though, I played my best poker and got my chips in good, and my hands held :) I got some good support from my poker friends George, Mick, Dean, Ann, Brett etc but especially Tim Cornish who came down and gave me a couple of good tips during the FT, which helped me win a pot and change the table dynamics into my favour a bit (thanks Tim). There were some key hands I’ll break down in detail at the bottom of this article later on. Article from Texas Hold'em Poker Australia's website:
Central Coast Player Wins APW Main Event
David Soede has pocketed $4600, a ($330) Seat at Star's Wednesday game and a sensational trophy for 2 hard days of great poker. 'David was thrilled and stated that he started his poker as a Freeroller at THPA's Ourimbah RSL', said THPA Director Rick Williams. 'Mr Soede has developed into a very competitive player and we are extremely proud that the inaugural Central Coast Poker Championship was won by a local', said Williams. 'Not only was it a great win by the Central Coast but it showed the depth of talent we have with 8 of the 9 players on the Final table from the Central Coast', he said. The Opening event attracted 121 starters from all over the State and THPA owes thanks to the events major sponsor Australian Poker Weekly as well as Mingara, Star and the Rubie family for their outstanding support. Here are the overnight / Final Table starting stacks and Payouts: 
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