Jan 4th - £50+£5 No Limit Hold'Em - Loose Cannons (EC1)

My first foray of 2007 into the world of 'live' tournament poker and, as things panned out, it couldn't have gone much better!

Loose Cannons - the new & under used poker club down in the City - started their 'league' tonight where the eventual winner - and partner - get a free trip to Vegas and a seat at this years $10,000 WSOP main event. (Well thats how I read it anyway!)

With the City still on holiday from the Xmas break only 7 players deemed it necessary to turn up for tonights 6pm event thereby giving the winner a running start at winning the league.

Heres how the league works...

The game is a £50+£5 (bounty button) NL Hold'Em event. Every Thursday night there are TWO events. One starts at 6pm (20 min clock). One starts at 8.30pm (15 min clock). You can only play in ONE of the two scheduled!

You get 3 points for turning up. The winner of each event gets 18 points, 2nd 15 points, 3rd 12 etc etc.

In the event you have any bounty buttons in front of you when you get knocked out then these are worth both £5 each + 2 bonus points!

With only 7 runners the prize pool was - winner £250 + 18 points - 2nd £100 + 15 points.

So how did I get on??

With a starting stack of 3500 and blinds at 25-50 there was no need to get involved right? But everyone did! It was only 10 mins in when we lost our first player and I hadn't even played a hand as yet!

Now with the game 6 handed the value of hands started to change so I'd always be calling with 'callable hands' like 8s-9s.

Three of us saw a flop of Q-9-6. One checked, I bet 500 and the guy next to me raised it to 1000. First guy passes. Now what?

Now before I say what I did here there was also the thought in the back of my mind that IF I got knocked out early from this comp I could leg it across town to the Grosvener to play in their Thursday £50 freezeout event which stopped taking registration at 7.30pm. It was 6.40pm!

'I'm all-in', I said and stood up. 'Call', said my opponent who turned Q-J and I was looking for the door!

The turn though brought a 7 which meant that I now had a straight draw as well as a pair of 9's. The river was a.....10!!! Cripes...I'd hit runner runner to double me through. My opponent was not best pleased!

So now I have just over 5k in chips and the next hand I play knocks another player out!

Holding Jc-10c I smooth call a small raise from across the table. The flop is a lovely 8-9-Q. My opponent bets out 1000. I go all-in. (Perhaps my overbet would convince him to call??) He hums and aars but calls for all his chips - these city guys!! - and flips A-Q.

Nice hand sir but I scoop the chips and suddenly its a different game!

Two more players dropped and we were down to 4. I then get A-Q. Blinds were now 100-200 and I had around 8k in chips. I call the 200 but SB decides to knock it upto 1000. I call. Flop is 10-Q-Q. SB bets out 2000. I flat call. Turn is a 6. We both check. River a Jack. SB checks. I bet 2500. SB calls. I flip my A-Q and he looks well pissed as he turns A-A. Oooerr!

I take this guy out two hands later when my Q-Q outguns his Q-K. Three players becomes two!

At this point I have better than a 2/1 chip lead and the first hand of heads-up play it looks all-over. On a flop of Kc-10c-4h my opponent bets out 1000. I have K-J and move all-in. He calls and flips Kh-7h. This looks easy right...just no 7 please!

I'd forgotton about the hearts though and ehen the 9h was followed by the 6h he'd doubled through on me with his flush...argh!!

The end though came as it started in that my 8-9 proved to be too much for his A-9. On a flop of 8-8-7 we both checked. An Ace popped out next. Hoping he'd hit it I bet 1000. He goes all-in and I duly call. A boring 6 hit the river and my first tournament win of 2007 was secure!

For the league I got 18 points + 3 points + 8 points (4 bounty buttons) = 29 points.

I've told Roy he might as well buy me the flight tickets now! He laughed...as did I!!

Entries -> 7 - Place -> 1st - Win -> £215 (£215) Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£215

(As from 1st Jan 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.90)