Sept 16th - €50+€10 NL Hold'Em (Fitzwilliam)

'No Deals', said Jimmy the China man as we got down to the last 4 players in tonights €50 NL Hold'Em event at the Fitz. Sixty eight runners for a prize pool of around 6k meant that, as it stood, 4th place got €400, 3rd got €750, 2nd got €1100 and the winner got €2200. The thing was though that we all had similar stacks. Oh well!

You may remember in my last blogs on playing at the Fitz I've been harping on about the lack of luck I'd been getting when holding Jacks. Well tonight was an entirely different story. I got them SIX times during the course of the evening and they stood up EVERY time! The biggest pot I won when two desperados had gone all-in with A-4 & Q-5. I called them with JJ and took them both down!

Infact tonight was another one of those nights when things fell into place very nicely indeed. For the first hour I took down several pots with no need to show my hands and with the add-on at the break (compulsary) I had 9k in chips with which to begin the 2nd half.

To be honest I can't remember that many great hands. I simply played my cards, avoided any 'all-in' confrontations and got to the final table with around 40k in chips which was just above average!

With the short stacks gambling and gtting nowhere we got down to 4. By chipping away at the smaller stacks I'd accumulated another 30k in chips and with antes at 3k/6k there was always going to be a time when I had to go all-in against another big chipper!

The small stack, with 4 of us left, attempted an all-in with KQ, got called by an A-10 and with the Ace holding up we were down to three. Still no deals! Then came a big hand.

I held Kd-10d and, with antes now at 4k/8k I raised to 30k. The player to my immediate left with just a few chips less than myself flat called. A flop of A-J-6 fell and I pondered my options.

With now around 70k in the middle I couldn't just check and then have to probably pass after my opponent migt bet. I took the bull by the horns and went all-in. 'Call', said my foe and flipped over A-5. Oh well...all I needed was a Queen! PLOP...a Queen fell on the turn and I was now big chip leader with two of us left!

'Look Jimmy', I said, 'I'll give you €1500 to go away now!'. 'No deals...lets play', replied Jimmy and on we went.

With a 180k - 140k chip lead I was hoping to pick him off in one blow. I chipped away and got it to a 220k - 100k lead when the following hand came up...

I'm dealt A-9. At heads up stage an Ace in your hand is gold so I immediately went all-in. Jimmy looked at his cards, smiled, and said 'call'. He flipped K-K. Ane Ace on the flop looked to have made me the winner. A three on the turn and I was shaking his hand. A KING on the river and he announced that I was congratulating him on a fine play! Feck!!

With antes now at 10k/20k I couldn't hang around. The 7h-5h looked good so I went all-in. Jimmy called with K-9. A flop of 5-6-7 looked to have won it for me. The turn was a Jack the river (gulp) another 7 (well it looked like an 8 for a second) so my full house got my chip lead back and Jimmy was on the ropes.

Next hand I'm dealt A-3. All-in time. Jimmy calls with K-10 and its all-over when an Ace falls on the flop. My 2nd outright victory at the Fitz in less than 3 weeks. My third final table out of my last 4 events there! €3500 in prize money!

Perhaps now I've learnt how to play the game....?????

68 Entries - 1st - Win $2508 (€2090) - Acc. Total +$2931.64