Dec 9th - £30+£3 No Limit Hold'Em (Western Club)

Todays 'fun' tournament, held at the Western Club, was a £30 NL freezeout event for the London Poker Meetup guys & gals.

Sixty-two runners, a 5k starting stack, and a 30 minute clock meant that there was no rush to get your chips in once play started at 1.30pm.

I had a nice and easy first 60 mins when I chipped up to 7k before my first major confrontation took place. Dealt Kd-Kc in LP and with blinds at 50-100 I raised it up to 500. I got one caller!

Now we all know that holding a pair of Kings means that the flop will bring an Ace! The number of times I've had Kings in the pocket and an Ace has appeared is ridiculous so I'm sat there praying 'No Ace...No Ace!'.

The flop came Ad-Jd-6d. (There's that Ace again!!) My opponent checked and I went all-in!

The reasons for this should be obvious. If my opponent HAS no Ace then he can't call the bet (unless he has made a flush already in which case I still have outs). If my opponent HAS an Ace with low kicker he CANT call the bet. If my opponent HAS an Ace with a BIG kicker, and he calls, then I still have outs. If my opponent has TWO ACES, and he calls (duh) then I still have outs!

He called and flipped A-10d. I wasn't worried. The turn card was the 3h, the river the luverly 4d. Nice!

At the break I had 14k in chips and was well in control of my game. As we know though poker has a way of creeping up behind you and kicking you in the nuts as I was shortly to find out!

As players got moved to the table I was at one guy came, trebled up with A-A v Q-Q v A-Q and suddenly had the same chips as me. I get dealt Kd-7d on the BB. Mr 'Same As Me Chips' raised it upto 600, blinds were now 100-200, and I flat called for the extra 400. The flop was K-10-7.

I checked and he bet out 2.5k. Now it was obvious the guy had a hand. I put him on A-K, K-Q or K-J. Certainly not K-10 and certainly not a set. As I had two pairs made I wasn't about to let him off cheap...so I raised it to 5k...another 2.5k.

I fully expected him to flat call, if he held the King, as that would be the obvious play in his position and if a scare card came next I'd be all-in before you could say 'Merry Xmas'. He didn't play ball though and announced 'all-in'.

I insta-called and he stood up and said 'good game'. He flipped K-J. Ok...so he had outs. Not many...but some.

The turn brought a 9 the river an 8 and the fecker had done me with a runner-runner straight!

Ooooo. That hurt. It took me a moment to register the scale of my demise. Ooooo. Win that hand and I'm chip monster...as it was I was on my way home to watch the football.

Entries ->62 - Place ->44th - Loss -> £33 ($63) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$18280
(As from 30th Nov 2006 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)