CRIKEY : Lazza's Aussie Thread Mate

Aussie Hero No 1 - Steven Bradbury

Majority of my Aussie Heroes segments will involve people who have inspired me through their mental resilience and their never say die approach.

They are not in ranking order.

STEVEN BRADBURY

At the 2002 Winter Olympics Steven Bradbury won Australia's first Winter Olympic gold medal in the 2k speed skating in a race famously known as "Last Man Standing"

With the scheduling meaning all four races run on the same night (Heat, QF,SF and Final), Bradbury knew he would get slower by the race. In fact his heat time was 3 seconds faster than his quarter final which in turn was 3 seconds faster than his semi final.

After winning his heat he was drawn in the "quarter final of death" against two of the gold medal favourites and finished a credible 3rd (top 2 advance). Post race the 2nd place finisher was disqualified for obstruction and Bradbury was through to the semi final.

In the semi final he was last (5th) when 3 riders fell on the last turn to allow him to finish 2nd and qualify for the final but he was physically spent.

After discussions with his coach, it was agreed the other 3 riders(4 man final) were unlikely to settle for anything but gold so the plan was to stay on the back of the other skaters to take advantage of any trouble/injuries and drop off the back on the last lap in case there were falls on the last corner.

So was he lucky or was it a tactical masterstroke.

Hell should he have even been there? In 1992 his leg became impaled on another skater's skate and he almost bled to death. In 2000 while trying to jump a fallen skater he accidentally clipped the skater and was sent head first into the barriers breaking his neck. Doctor's told him that he would never skate again. And yet 2 years later he was collecting a gold medal.

A true inspiration and a great example of mental resilience and a never say die attitude.

Steve Bradbury--- you are a true aussie hero

SUBBED

Well next weekend sees the start of the AFL finals:

QUALIFYING FINALS

Hawthorn Hawks Vs Sydney Swans
Geelong Cats Vs Fremantle Dockers

The winners of these two matches advance to the Grand Final qualifiers two weeks later.

The losers play next week against the Elimination Final Winners.

ELIMINATION FINALS

Collingwood Magpies Vs Port Adelaide Power
Richmond Tigers Vs Carlton Blues

The 2 winners would play the 2 losers from the qualifying finals next week and the 2 losers will be eliminated.

My selections are in bold.

An Aussie sheila

Fwaooooor

Today's post concerns the depth of topline online Aussie tourney grinders. So I will throw a few names out there. Feel free to add more if you think they are worthy.

Johnathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis
James "Andy McLEOD" Obst
Jay "SEABEAST" Kinkade
Tom "tollgate" Griggs ( a fellow Tasmanian)
Michael "WaGe N WaRz" Fadersen (on a heater)
Oliver "SwoopAE" Gill
Edison "googiemona" Nguyen (on a heater)

Honorary Aussies ( both players migrated to Aus after black friday and now call it home).

D.J. "djk123" Kelly
Justin "JWPRODIGY" Westmorland

Guys on a heater.

Michael Fadersen has been racking up big scores wherever he goes. In the last month he has had big scores on iPoker, Ongame as well as Stars.

Edison Nguyen has become a feared player on Full Tilt. winning the T Rex one week and backing up to win it the next week as well as finishing 2nd in a FTOPS event at the same time.

And just when I thought my hero (MONSTER_DONG) was on a downswing, he pops up and ships The $109 Sunday rebuy for 61k. Nice work if you can get it.

And a special mention to Justin Westmorland for shipping PokerStars Super Tuesday for 103k.

SPONSORSHIPS

Top Aussie sheila pro and last woman standing at the WSOP ME 2013, Jackie Glazier has left Team Ivey and signed with well known Aussie lovers 888.

Johnathan Karamalikis has signed up with Full Tilt as a Red Pro (again), I'm not sure which SN he will be playing under. Either "xMONSTERxDONGx" or JonnoKaramalikis.

Should do a write up about our drop bears.

Originally posted by justkyle88
Should do a write up about our drop bears.

nasty critters

Drop bears are smarter than you think, and display some interesting characteristics. One thing for sure is that there are things you can do to avoid the threat of drop bears when visiting Australia. Here are our ten most recommended tips:

1. Avoid drop bear prone areas - Check the danger areas and avoid walking under tall trees

2. Try to avoid speaking in languages apart from English - A drop bear can detect foreign languages and will target the origin of such sounds

3. Use the Aussie Lingo - Words like sheila and crikey will fool your average drop bear

4. Smear vegemite on your armpits - We think this one is a bit of a myth, however many swear by it, so if you want to make sure you don't get flattened by a hairy meat sack, then you may want to go to such extremes

5. Hop on one leg - This is an interesting one. We thing that the drop bear will mistake you for a Kangaroo and leave you alone if they hear hopping. It is not fool proof but a good one to excersize, especially if you hear the rustling of potential drop bear activity

6. Keep Moving - when you move around it is very hard for a bear to follow you up in the trees. If you stay in one place say for a picnic, the drop bear has the chance to edge forward towards you location

7. Wear a broad brimmed hat - Wearing a large hat increases the viewable area of your body to a drop bear looking down from above. We have found that large hats tend to scare off some of the less agressive drop bears.

8. Sing a song - (preferably Australian - see number 2 and 3) Drop bears are known to be very musical creatures and appreciate a good song.

9. Don't declare liberal political views out loud - Drop bears are highly left wing politically and don't like hearing the other side of the story

10. Don't act scared - Seriously, drop bears can smell fear a mile off. Be cautious but confident walking around the Australian bush. Don't let them see the terror in your eyes.

Whilst there are many more tips for drop bear aware campaigners, we feel these top ten should keep you pretty much covered although we cannot guarantee that following these above guidelines absolutely insulates you from a Drop Bear attack.

Just remember the 3 C's. "Cautious", "Confident" and "Crikey me sheila's dropped a cracker". Good Luck, may the force stay away from you!

lol. Never underestimate the ignorance of a politician

Australian politician quits after mistaking Islam for a country

An Australian election candidate who thought Islam is a country has stepped down.

Stephanie Banister was widely mocked for her car crash interview with Channel Seven, which has since gone viral and led to Sarah Palin comparisons.

While discussing her views on immigration, she also confused the Arabic term haram - meaning forbidden - with the Qur'an and claimed that Jews follow Jesus.

"I don't oppose Islam as a country but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia," Banister said.

"Less than 2% of Australians follow haram. Jews aren't under haram. They have their own religion which follows Jesus Christ."

The gaffes led to her withdrawing her Queensland candidacy bid for the right-wing nationalist party One Nation, which gave her its "full support".

"With the way Channel Seven edited my interview, I was left quite the fool," Banister said in a statement.

"I'd like to apologise to One Nation, to my friends and family, for any embarrassment this has brought to them."

The 27-year-old is due in court soon to face charges of being involved in an anti-Muslim vandalism campaign.

She is accused of putting stickers stating, 'Beware! Halal food funds terrorism' on Nestle products at her local Woolworths.

With the news that Australia's own Lynn Gilmartin is replacing Kimberley Lansing as lead anchor on the WPT, I think it is only appropriate to post a pic of another bonza aussie sheila.

In the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. posted in his blog that " It's my unbiased opinion that we will smash the Aussies like guitars" in the 4 * 100 metre freestyle relay.

And why wouldn't he say that. After all the US had never been beaten in Olympic history.

What was initially a matter-of- fact blog post was turned on it's head by the local media. Stories ran about the "arrogance of those Yanks". The Australian public was whipped into a frenzy.

Rallying calls of " The Thorpedo will put those Yanks back in there place' rang out. It had become the second most anticipated event of the Games.

As fate would have it Gary Hall Jr. (not Michael Phelps) would swim the anchor leg against Ian Thorpe.

The race started with a bang with Michael Klim (more noted as a butterflyer) amazingly broke the WR in his lead off swim. This allowed the Aussies to take a half body length lead and hold it until the last change.

The crowd erupted as Thorpe hit the water ahead of Hall. Surely Hall could not run down the Thorpedo. But a stunning first 50 metres turned that deficit into a halfbody length lead. Thorpe looked to his right and knew he had to dig deep.

So he hit the wall hard and pushed and then with an almighty dolphin kick gained several precious inches as well as gaining good speed. And then they slogged it out. Stroke for stroke. Inch by inch, millimetre by millimetre, Thorpe pulled back the ground. With 10 metres to go it was evident it would come down to the touch.

If you don't know what happens next, you'll have to watch the video.

Truly a magic moment.....

Originally posted by justkyle88

+1

I was wondering why there appears to be no Aussies at EPT Barcelona. They stayed home for APPT Melbourne.

Day 1a of the 3k BI Main Event is underway. Currently during level 4, Oliver "SwoopAE" Gill is chip leader. Other notables with top ten stacks include Alex Lynskey, Joe Cabret, Gary Benson, Didier Guerin and Andrew Hinrichsen. Other notables out of todays 108 starters include Grant Levy, Billy "The Croc" Argyros, Jarred Graham, Patrick Healy, Jordan Westmorland, Jonno Pittock and ofc the biggest name of all, Joe Hachem.

Wow that field is just so stacked. I wonder who will turn up for Day 1b.

Last reported chip counts at APPT Melbourne ME Day 1a

Alex Lynskey 80000
Oliver Gill 78000
Joe Cabret 78000
Ashley Warner 65000
Martin Rowe 58000
Billy Seri 55000
Gary Benson 48000
Danny Chevalier 47000
Didier Guerin 45000
Pat Dillon 42000

Originally posted by Lazza61
I was wondering why there appears to be no Aussies at EPT Barcelona. They stayed home for APPT Melbourne.

Day 1a of the 3k BI Main Event is underway. Currently during level 4, Oliver "SwoopAE" Gill is chip leader. Other notables with top ten stacks include Alex Lynskey, Joe Cabret, Gary Benson, Didier Guerin and Andrew Hinrichsen. Other notables out of todays 108 starters include Grant Levy, Billy "The Croc" Argyros, Jarred Graham, Patrick Healy, Jordan Westmorland, Jonno Pittock and ofc the biggest name of all, Joe Hachem.

Wow that field is just so stacked. I wonder who will turn up for Day 1b.

An absolute who's who of Australian poker. With more than 200 registrations for Day 1b, the big names keep turning up.

In today's field we have Daniel Neilson, Jonno Karamalikis, Dean Schneider, Aaron Benton, Jackie Glazier, Bryan Huang, Roy Bhasin, Michael Bouskila, Johnathan Bredin, Michael Guzzardi, Matt Wakeman, Daniel Levy, David Borg, Martin Kozlov, Leo Boxell, Michael Fadersen, Graeme Putt, Micheal Kanaan and Tom Grigg (already busted).

I'm telling you now, forget EPT Barcelona. This is one RED HOT field.

Sad time this weekend. With the last round of the NRL and with my beloved Wests Tigers out of final contention, it will be Benji Marshall's last game in Tiger colours.

So I leave you now with a vid of some of his more outlandish exploits.

LoL. Just watched it again. He is an absolute freak.

Lol Poker players are so competitive.

APPT Melbourne Great Oyster Challenge Results

Roy Bhasin (Team OysterStars Pro) - 108
Sam Dawson - 102
Danny McDonagh - 87
Raj Ramakrishnan - 41
Bryan Huang - 31

Grand total - 369

The next PokerStars Great Oyster Challenge will be held in Perth early next year. You can satellite your way into this event at your nearest buffet restaurant today!

Bhasin is clearly in a rich vein of form as he now adds the APPT Melbourne Great Oyster Challenge title to the APPT Queenstown Frisbee Golf trophy he won last month.

Story from the PokerStars blog.

Updated chip counts on day 2 from APPT Melbourne. Blinds 12K/24k/400. 79 remain from 309 total starters.

David Yan 500000
Jonathan Karamalikis 350000
Ivan Zalac 350000
Jason Lee 290000
Iori Yogo 200000
Jason Gray 200000
John Lombardo 190000
Yanji Ge 180000
Dejan Boskovic 163000
Ashley Mason 160000