Nov 23rd - £20 NL Hold'Em - Cavendish Club (Belfast)

A small but fearless crowd of players for tonights £20 game at the Cavendish club and, as has been the norm for a good few weeks now, I played well and got my just rewards.

For the last three weeks here I seem to have been all-in first hand followed by the word 'rebuy'. Not tonight Josephine as my A-2 hit the muck on a 7-8-9 flop and a bet from across the table.

From a starting point of 1500 I scurried up to almost 6k with the help of a treble-up. Holding J-7 on the button and just me & the blinds in play the flop came J-7-J. Checked all round. The turn card was a 5. Check - Bet 500 - Call (me) - Call. River card was another 5. Check - All-In - Call (me) - Call. The SB had a 5 for 5's over 7's. The BB had Q-7 and I scooped.

My chips went all-in three hands later holding K-K but was outdrawn by player holding A-K. Bahhhhhh!

Not to worry though...I got good cards and at the break I had no rebuys and was holding 8k in chips. That plus the obigatory add-on (5k chips for £20) gave me a nice 13k to start.

Things then started to happen. In the space of 4 hads I flopped a straight (added 5k) - flopped a flush (added 8k) and flopped a set (added 5k). In no time at all I had 30k and from that point on I coasted to the final table and got there with 50k in chips.

With only 5 prizes to play for I was determined not to do anything silly so sat tight and waited for my opportunities.

Players dropped out. And then there were 7.

I get J-J in MP and was about to launch when the bloke sat to my immediate right announced he was all-in. Now this guy had played like a rock whilst I was there at the final table. He'd gotton lucky a bit earlier when he trebled up to about 40k with Ad-9d against 10-10 & A-6 but this play was 'way out there'. I folded. A player in late position called him and flipped A-K. The raiser flipped A-8!! I couldn't believe it! An eight came down and the guy doubled up leaving the A-K man well cheesed off at his bad luck...so was I!

A deal was made at 6 players giving 6th £50. I then got lucky!

Holding Ah-7h and with blinds at 4k-8k I raised to 25k. Guy, 2 seats down, went all-in for 35k as did another for 15k. I, of course, called the additional 15k and we saw what everyone had...A-Q for guy 2 seats down...10-10 for Mr 15k all-in!

A flop of 7-6-10-6-9 gave me the side pot and another player hit the rails. Then there were 5.

Blinds went upto 5k-10k and I have around 70k. I then get EXTREMELY lucky.

There's a raise to 30k from across the table. I look down and see A-J. 'All-In', I announce. The original raiser smiles and calls with A-Q. The flop is A-J-6-4-7 and I double up leaving Mr AQ with 15k and the BB next! He goes out next hand.

Down to four and one or two are short on chips so me & mr next-big-stack take turns in knocking each of the short stacks out and we're heads up.

We each take £575 and play for an additional £225.

After bumbling around for a few hands I get Ac-Jc and go all-in. My opponent calls with 2h-2c. Flop is Ah-Jh-9h-9c-Jd.

Nice to win!

31 Entries - 1st - Win $1400 (£800) - Acc. Total +$5323