Left: Local poker talent Bernie Partridge played with the world’s best at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship at Crown Casino this week. By Glen Atwell
BERNIE Partridge is having the time of his life.
He’s short-stacked in Australia’s richest poker tournament and has the defending champion, Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson, staring into his eyes.
Nelson, a professional player who pocketed $1.4 million for his win in 2006, is trying to read the strength of Bernie’s hand.
But Bernie is bluffing.
After what seems like an age, Nelson folds his hand.
Bernie scoops the prize from the middle of the table and starts rebuilding his dwindling chip stack.
It’s a world away from playing snooker at the Dandenong RSL.
The Aussie Millions Poker Championship, at Crown Casino in Melbourne, attracted more than 418 entrants, each with a seat worth $10,500.
With a first prize of more than $1.5 million, the Aussie Millions is the richest poker event outside the United States.
Bernie, a Mulgrave resident, did not pay the hefty entry fee for his chance at stardom, but secured his seat in the tournament by winning a qualification event in December.
“I probably spent about $1500 to get into the big tournament, I won a phase-one event and then won my way through a phase-two event to get my seat,” he said.
Amazingly, Bernie started playing poker just two years ago, after discovering the Internet and a local poker league.
“I started playing on Party Poker and Poker Stars and to my surprise, discovered I could actually play,” he said.
But Bernie said he was no pro.
“I’m hardly even semi-professional, I work for an electrical company and live a normal life,” he said.
Bernie decided to spread his wings and began playing at Australian Poker League (APL) events at the Dandenong Club and Kings Entertainment Complex in Dingley.
“Live tournaments are very different to playing on the Internet, the APL is a great place to start,” he said.
On Sunday, Bernie pitted his poker game against the best in the world and despite being eliminated after 12 hours of play, was far from disappointed.
Bernie was seated at the same table as the 2006 Aussie Million champion Lee Nelson, one of the many poker superstars who contest the gruelling five-day event.
But it was the unknown players who caused Bernie the most concern.
“Nelson played as expected, he was very aggressive when he decided to bet,” he said.
“Trying to work out the other players was the hardest part.”
Bernie managed to knock a professional player out of the tournament, but wasn’t aware of his opponent’s world-beating history until later in the day.
“I raised with my pair of kings and my opponent re-raised all-in with ace-king,” he said.
“I pushed the rest of my chips in and eventually won the hand when a king came on the flop.
“Later someone congratulated me on beating a former World Series of Poker champion, but I had no idea who the guy was,” Bernie laughed.
Bernie’s son Sean and daughter Jayne, proudly watched their dad from the sidelines.
Sean said he was confident of dad’s ability.
“It’s a hard tournament, but dad’s a confident player,” he said.
Jayne said her dad had plenty of patience.
“He’s the king of holding on with a short-stack of chips,” she said.
When Bernie finally busted out of the tournament just after midnight, the Partridge clan left the casino weary-eyed, but Bernie was still buzzing with excitement.
“At one stage during the day I had $29,000 in chips, I was almost leading the table,” he said.
“I’m exhausted. Twelve hours of play against the best in the world really takes its toll.”
For now Bernie will return to playing competition snooker for the Dandenong RSL and compete in local APL events.
“I’m going to put some more time into my game and try and qualify for a few big tournaments overseas,” he said.
“I’m having fun.”
There’s no bluff about that.
