Lithuanian poker player and Unibet poker ambassador Daiva Byrne has been traveling around Australia since the 10th December, taking in the sights and sounds of Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and now Melbourne. We sat down to have a chat with her about her travels.
"I've been loving it. Everyone over here is very friendly and welcoming. Everyone says 'Hi' and they're always there to have a conversation with. You never feel out of place; everyone is there to help. I'm really impressed."
Byrne is now sat in the Aussie Millions main event, sititng on a healthy stack of 44,000 with two levels left in the day.
"Poker's been good. I played one local $300 tournament in Sydney and cashed that. Here in Melbourne I played the Accumulator, but sadly didn't make Day 2.
"The Main Event is my third tournament of the year and I'm feeling good. It's a decent table and let's just hope it continues to build."
In addition to her travels, Byrne works with Unibet as an ambassador. She is also heavily involved in the promotion of women's poker.
"I run a group for female pokers online. It's got 1,200 members which is amazing considering I started it from scratch six months ago. I'm very proud of what I've accomplished. We have weekly freerolls for members, and we then all meet up at live poker stops.
"I'm currently planning the meet-up for the WSOP Ladies Event later this year. It's all about sharing women's successes and both encouraging and supporting one another."
It has been said in the past that Ladies Events aren't the right way to go about encouraging more women to join the poker scene, but Byrne disagrees.
"With these freerolls and running more ladies only events, it means that women can practice and feel more comfortable. It's also as simple as meeting more people and chatting, then going with these people they've met to live tournaments.
"I always encourage tours to have ladies events. Unfortunately there's not one here - maybe in the future! But it can definitely be a good stepping stone for ladies, and the feedback from ladies is that the majority prefer ladies only events. And if that works, then it works and we should do whatever we can to keep doing that."
Stephen Graner called what looked to be a three-bet from Brian Yoon, on the button, to 3,500 in a hand that wound up going a few minutes into the break. Graner checked and called 3,500 more on the flop. He check-called 10,000 on the turn, bringing a river. Graner checked a final time and Yoon bet 22,000.
Graner tanked for several minutes, thinking until the break started. Players were milling about waiting to see what happened before going on break, and Graner apologized, saying he needed only another minute. He continued to eye Yoon suspiciously until he dropped in calling chips. Yoon showed and Graner turned over to take the pot.
"Wow, nice call," someone said. "These two blokes know each other."
Winfred Yu in the small blind and Jamie Pickering in the cutoff both invested 5,100 chips each on the turn and the river was checked through. Pickering as last aggressor turned over for trips aces and Yu tapped the table in defeat.
Christian Christner's check-raise from 1,700 to 6,500 on a completed board of was called by his sole opponent and Christner flipped over the for a full house, jacks over aces, to win the pot.
Antoine Saout and an opponent on his left built a large pot preflop in middle position, and Saout bet 7,500 on a flop. His opponent tanked a long time and called, and both players checked the and the , though they took their time doing so. Saout opened but it was no good against .
Tyron Krost has been flying under the radar thus far and the 2010 Aussie Millions champion had not been able to run up a stack thus far. Eventually, Krost three-bet all in from late position for his last 8,200 and the initial raiser called with the . Krost was well ahead with the and dodged the over card and straight draw on a board of to remain in contention.
Shortly after, Krost raised to 1,000 under the gun and the big blind defended. Krost bet 1,100 on the flop and the big blind stuck around. The 2010 champion fired a second bullet worth 3,500 on the turn and netted a fold.
Scott Davies checked from the big blind on a completed board of . Jackson Warne bet 5,000 into a pot of about 17,000 on the button, and Davis shoved all his chips in, enough to put Warne's last 19,000 at risk.
"Why did I even bet?" he wondered aloud. "I knew you were gonna do that."
After about 90 seconds, Warne mucked face up.
"Good fold," someone said immediately. He subsequently offered money if Davies could turn over a card that wasn't a king or a ten.
Davies declined to show but said he would tell later.
Kyle Frey raised to 1,000 under the gun, Antoine Saout called on the button and James Hopkins defended his big blind. All players checked the flop, which prompted Hopkins to bet 1,200 on the turn. Frey called and Saout folded. The river didn't connect with the board and Hopkins quickly check-folded to a 4,000 river bet from Frey.
Saout is still top dog at the table with over 100k in chips.
Rob Raymond opened for 1,000 in middle position and got three-bet to 2,800 by his neighbor. Oliver Weis made it 6,900 in the big blind, and Raymond shoved all in, folding out the third player. Weis got the count: 22,175. After a couple of minutes, he called.
Weis:
Raymond:
The board ran out , keeping the king kicker best for a double.