Mar 30th - £10 satellite event - FULLHOUSE Card Club (Reigate)

A tale of 4 hands....

Until recently I usually considered playing in satellites a bit of a waste of time. After all...why put yourself though a gruelling 5-6 hours of play just to come back and do the whole thing again the day after (if you're lucky enough) when surely it would have been a better idea just to buy-in for the main event to start with and save all that hard work!

Things change! After playing on-line for many moons in satellite events for the Sunday night games I've come to realise that there's great value in these things as most players who play them still have the 'must win' mentality thereby not managing their stacks correctly and giving players like me a bigger edge than normal!

Forty six runners and we were playing for 5 seats and change (£235) into the FULLHOUSE £400 main event which takes place this Saturday in Reigate.

Four specific hands tell the story of my night.

Hand 1: I'd spent my first £20 on 2k in chips and had pretty much my full tank when I get Js-10s in LP. Blinds were still at 25/50 and I raised it to 250 enticing three other callers. The flop came 8-9-6 rainbow. Of course I was now locked in so was please to see someone come out betting straight away for 500. The next player passed then my turn came. 'All-In', I said and pushed the 1500 chips I had left into the middle. Call...from my left and call from the original raiser!

The turn card was a 2. Check, Check. The river card another 6 (Dohhhh). Check Check. The original raiser held A-9 whilst the other caller held K-8. REBUY!!

Hand 2: I was determind to play tight with my next 2k in chips but didn't have to wait too long before being dealt A-A in MP. There was a raise to 250 before it got to me. I raised to 500. Another player called. Next player made it 1000. Original player called. I made it 2000. Next player dropped. Next player called. Original raiser called. There was over 6500 in the pot and it was time for 'on their backs'!

I was against 10s-3s (spot the rebuy period) and 10-10. The flop came harmless enough and suddenly I had chips!!

Hand 3: Undoubtedly the hand of the night for me! I held Ac-Qh in LP and decided to see what the flop brought before committing any chips. Five of us saw a flop of Ad-7s-10d. The player to my immediate right bet out to 300. I raided to 1500. There were two further callers (obviously flush drawers) before it got back to the original raiser who hummed and arred before going 'all-in'. Now from where I sat I couldn't believe he had THAT strong a hand as he'd been raising on cow-pat all night long to this point. I called for all my chips...as did the other two callers. Eeek!! There was over 25k in the pot and we flipped em!!

The original 'all-iner' held 10-7, (two pair) and I was also up against 5d-6d and Qd-Jd (no surprises there I suppose! The dealer turned the 3c on the turn but the luverly Qh fell on the river and I was on easy street with a pot of 25k+ to scoop in. There were one or two gutted faces I can tell you!

Hand 4: Between H3 and H4 I never dipped below 20k. I picked spots carefully and raised only when I felt my hand could stand it. Luckily I never got involved until this happend...

I get A-A in MP. With blinds now at 600/1200 there was an EP raise to 4200. I reckoned that as he'd raised in EP he'd surely throw out another bet on the flop nomatter WHAT came down. I flat called as did another player!

The flop comes J-2-4 (perfect for me I figured) and right on cue the EP raiser bet out to 8000. I wasn't giving any more cheapies so went all-in for another 9k. The third player dropped and EP player called after deciding his 9's were good and I was at it! That pot took me to over 40k and I then cruised to the final table of 9.

Blinds were at 3k/6k come the final table and after three players dropped we all decided to chip in £30 to guarantee the us last 6 all a seat in the £400 event. There'll be £20k to play for on Saturday. I just hope I can get a piece of it!!

Entries -> 46 - Place -> Jnt 1st - Win -> £345 ($604) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$3587