May 24th - £300+£30 NL Hold'Em FREEZE - Western Club (London)

Almost but not quite! Thats the verdict after my adventure at the Western Club where I played in the £300 NL FREEZEOUT tonight and finished TENTH...one out of the money!

With 5000 points to start and a 30 minute clock then this was a much better tournament to play in than the £20 jobbie at the Vic last night. Plenty of play and plenty of places to pick your spot but it all comes down to winning the 50/50 races and to this end my score tonight was 2-2.

After five 30 minute levels I had 5200 in chips. I then get K-J in EP and for some reason or other decided to go all-in with them. Needless to say a player holding Q-Q called! The flop came A-9-K-K-4 and I'd double through to average chips. Nice!

I continued to tick along picking up the ever rising antes where possible but not quite managing to get the hands that made many chips. At two tables left I held 15k in chips...then the fun started.

By this stage the move was generally all-in or fold so holding Qd-Jd in LP I decided to uphold the tradition and announced all-in. The BB decided to call with A-Q but a flop of A-K-10 gave me the straight off the bat and it looked as though I'd cruise to the final table unhindered.

I then started to get excellent hands and with them the need to play them. My Q-Q got through unscathed but my next hand (10-10) caused more of a problem. With blinds at 1k-2k I raised to 6k in MP. The player who'd lost to me with A-Q went all-in for 13k and I was obliged to call the remaining 7k. All looked great on a flop of 8-8-9-6 then a pissy KING turned up on the river and I was back down to around 26k in chips!

Three hands later and I get A-K. There are now 10 players left in the tourny...you know whats coming...and once again I move all-in knowing that anyone behind me MUST have a bloody good hand with which to call. Unfortunatley the same player who'd lost with A-Q and won with K-J woke up with K-K and called.

A totally dead flop, for my A-K anyway, followed and I was gone!

Twice in three big tournaments I've gone out with A-K against a massive pair behind me...now just what ARE the chances of that??

Entries -> 73 - Place -> 10th - Loss -> £330 ($610) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12343