Well as the title suggests, it is Aussie Millions time here in Australia and I’m really excited to jump into the series and hopefully book some results. This will be the first time that I have participated in an actual series of events, and my first trip to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions. This obviously has a lot to do with the fact that I have only been playing mtt’s for about 9 months. I’m trying to prepare myself mentally in the couple of days leading up to event one, while at the same time containing a lot of the nervous energy I have.

The nervous energy has probably come from not having a fantastic start to the year online. I basically bricked out everything for a week straight, which has be an expensive endeavour.
Best to look forward though...

I have an apartment in Docklands booked with a couple of mates; Random_chu and Bennybunny18 for the series, and it should be a really good time being constantly trolled by Chuballs. I plan on playing nine events at this stage, as well as satellites to the Main Event. My schedule looks like this:

- 13th January, Event 1: $1100 Repecharge
- 17th January, Event 3: $1100 Shootout
- 19th January, Event 5: $1100 6-max
- 21st January, Event 7: $1650 Bounties
- 23rd January, Event 11: $550 NLHE
- 24thJanuary, Event 14: $550 NLHE
- 25th January, Event 15: $550 NLHE
- 26th January, Event 17: $550 NLHE
- 28th January, Event 22: $550 Cubed/Turbo

I am really hoping that I can win a satellite to the $10.6k Main Event, in which case I will not be playing the $550’s. It is one of my main goals heading to Melbourne to be able to play the main event, so hopefully I can play well in the sats and run well at the right times.

As some of you will be aware, I don’t have the most flattering live tournament record. However, I feel that I have plenty of reasons to be optimistic going into this series. In the past there is no way I could be considered a specialist in mtt’s, let alone live mtt’s, but I feel my mtt game has now developed to a point where I would most certainly consider it my main game. While there is still tons of room for improvement in my game, I feel really good about where my game is at, and thus feel very confident heading to Melbourne.

At the end of the day, this is a small sample size. Nine tournaments is not a lot to bank on, nor is it the end of the world if I brick. I just want to make sure that I play my absolute best for every minute of every tournament that I play.

As this is my first real series as an mtt’er I am certainly still getting to know the community and the people floating around within it. So if you are around Melbourne, make sure you come and say hi if you see me. I will make sure I get a couple of blogs out to discuss key hands throughout the series, and will be tweeting as I go @mjw006.

This wouldn't be my blog without a bit of a brag in here..



Over the past couple of weeks I have broken my way into the Worldwide Top 10 on Pocket Fives World Rankings. It is actually a really cool and satisfying feeling to be listed in the top ten mtt'ers, even if I don't feel close to the caliber of player as those around me. Regardless of how I feel personally, it is a really nice achievement and makes me feel special. I believe I am only the 3rd Australian player to break into the worldwide top ten, so that makes it even more special for me to join the other two guys who are both people I have unbelievable respect for (Andy McLEOD and Baza88).

Last but not least, I did an interview with Christian Vaughan, the Aussie Millions Tournament Director, last night for Konvict Korner. The whole program seems to be going well and I am really enjoying my role as host of a radio program. You can check it out here if you want to listen in to the podcast (http://www.quadjacks.com/category/konvictkorner/)

I hope you are all doing well, and if you are heading to Melbourne yourself I wish you all the best!

Matt

Follow me on Twitter @mjw006