May 7th - Gutshot £500 NL Hold'Em (Day 2)

So in the end it came down to a coin toss! But before that piece of drama lets go back to 3pm and the start of day 2!

With seats redrawn I still found myself to the immediate right of Mr Dave Shallow. As I'd sat with him for the majority of day 1 I knew he'd attack every pot and go for broke so even with 51k in chips I still had to play slow!

My first encounter of the day came against Mr "Eastender" Michael Greco. His all-in bet of 15k couldn't make me pass my A-Q. He flipped 6-6 and one another 6 had appeared on the flop then I was down to 34k. Encounter no. 2 came a short time later. Again an all-in from across the table and this time I held 7-7. Well...you gotta win a race or two so I called for another 17k. My opponent flipped A-Q but again no Ace nor Queen fell and I was back to my start of day chip count.

Shortly afterwards I find A-A in MP. There's a raise, to 20k, before it gets to me and I decide not to fuck around so go all-in. Luckily for me, and not the original raiser, he has A-K and calls. Needless to say I scoop and I'm up to 81k.

The next 2 hours passed slowly. I couldn't find a hand to get involved with and with Dave S. lurking behind me I play safe.

Finally, after almost 4 hours of play, we're into the last 18 (payday). Again we redraw seats and AGAIN I get Dave S. immediately to my left. He's chipped up and looking for action.

I lose a pot when my A-2 gets outdrawn by K-9 after a 3-4-5 flop (he made a flush) and suddenly I'm not looking so strong.

I go all-in with Kh-10h and Dave calls with A-7. I hit a 10 and I'm upto 54k. I go all-in with A-J. Again Dave calls, this time with A-10, and again I double up. Dave self destruct and goes out and I now have over 100k.

Down to 10 and I get A-J again. In MP I raise to 20k. Richard Gryko, who's just joined the table flat calls from the BB. The flop is 9h-10h-Jh. He goes all-in. I call. He flips Q-J (no hearts) and once an Ace and a 5 falls to complete the board I'm upto 163k and its final table time!

Fourth in chips at this stage with 2 short stacks (50k or less) at the table I'm hoping to see the back of them before I want to get involved. It works out that way as 3 people go within 20 mins and we're down to 6.

And so to the coin-toss...

Antes are 4000-8000. I'm in MP and look down to see A-K. The player UTG raises to around 25k. I'm not gonna mess around and go all-in. To my surprise the player to my immediate left goes all-in as well having slightly more chips than me. Of course everyone now gets out of the way and he flips Q-Q.

So there you have it...I need an Ace or a King in 5 cards or I'm history. The flop is 9-6-2-8-7 and I'm out in 6th place for a £3063 payday.

Could I have played it any different....probably not. Do I regret anything....no! Am I unlucky...no! After all...after 14 mins of play on day 1 I was one card away from being eliminated.

Entries -> 123 - Place -> 6th - Win -> £2413 ($4223) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12217
(includes the £150 I lost in satellite fees on the Friday night)