June 3rd - £300+£30 NL Hold'Em FREEZE - Gutshot

The £300+£3 NL Hold'Em FREEZE event at the Gutshot provided a chance to play a well structured tournament and with 8k to start with and a 30 minute clock I had high hopes of doing well.

In events like these where there is a lot of play 'early on' you just have to wait for hands that provide you with a chance of a coo whereby you can double up with little risk. Tonight though this didn't happen and as we approaced level 6, some three hours into the event, I had 8075 in chips..a profit so far of 75 points!

Level 7 came and I'm now starting to feel a little short stacked. Blinds were 600/1200 when this scenario came about...

At the end of one particular hand we were discussing one guys laydown of A-Q when faced with an all-in bet from one of the shorter stacks on the table. 'If I had A-Q', I said, 'I couldn't pass!'. Then this happened the very next hand.

I was fairly short stacked with 7k and went all-in with A-9, in MP, to be called by a 'player' (I use this word advisedly as you'll see in a mo...) with Ah-Qh (now there's a surprise). He was having a right larf with the rest of the table about how I'd told him he couldn't pass! Of course I agreed but the smile soon disappeared as a 9 hit the flop and I decimated his stack!

He then starts to wail like a little girl about how I can possibly go all-in with A-9 blah blah blah and crys like a baby! Obviously the guy has never read my book!!

With blinds at 1000/2000 (level 8) I had around 18k in chips and with the average chip stack now somewhat north of 25k I knew I had to take a coinflip situation at some stage in order to either double up or go home. I'm in EP with 5-5 and raise the pot to 4500.

The bloke to my immediate left then goes all-in himself for circa 15k and Bambos, in LP, puts the rest of his chips in also (circa 8k). I don't believe for one sec that bloke to my left has a big pair and I'm now thinking side-pot at best so I call and I see he has A-K. Fair enough! What makes this more interesting though is that Bambos has A-K as well!

So I'm 62/38 fav here and I can't really ask to be better placed. The flop is Q-K-Q-Q-4 and I'm down to the felt!

I go all-in next hand with the blinds approaching for 3k and an American guy (obviously non reader of forum) takes me out with A-7 in hand and an Ace on board!

No complaints from me and I finish in circa 25th spot!

Entries -> 70 - Place -> 25th - Loss -> £330 ($610) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$13189