Feb 3rd - A day at the Gutshot (London)

This weekends plan was simple...

Play in the cheapy (£20 / £30) satellite events at the Gutshot and the Vic on the Sat / Sun afternoon in the hope of getting a seat for the bigger events to be played that same day at the respective venues. In the case of the Gutshot it was the £300 + (donation) NL Freezeout and at the Vic it was the £500+£50 NL Freezeout!

Ok...so down I trot to the Gutshot for the 2pm £20 rebuy satellite. With next door to the club now shuttered because of the recent court case loss the satellite was played in the bar area.

Over 40 runners and at the end of rebuys & add ons there were 8 seats up for grabs.

With 1000 points to start and rebuys at 500 points or less there was a fair amount of early activity which saw my chip stack dwindle to 500. A rebuy was sought!

There were a couple of loosey-goosey types on the table. One player went all-in with 4-5 o/s and was pleased to show it to gasps of admiration. Next time he did it I called with 8-10, to show him that people WOULD call. He proudly showed A-4 but on a flop of 6-10-K-A-10 he swore like a trooper, rebought, and didn't try it again!

At the break, and with an add-on, I started with circa 4500. I'd spent £60.

As is usual the case there was a flurry of drop outs and I managed to rake in a couple of pots with varying degrees of card holdings. Four tables became three became two and I was pretty healthily stacked with circa 15k. No need to get involved now!

I sat tight and we were soon 9 handed. With 8 getting a seat it was just a case of waiting for the short stacks to burn themselves out but they refused to budge. It was 30 minutes into the final table when finally we lost a player and I'd won my seat to the £300 freezeout!

It was 7pm. With 5 hours solid play behind me already I decided to sit outside for a while. All the smog from the players ciggies had desended and the atmosphere was now thick with it. Roll on no-smoking day!!

At 8.30pm we started play with 7 tables and 65 runners. For the first 4 levels I played well and my stack increased to around 14k, from an 8k start. The break came and went and we began level 5. I began to feel tired.

Suddenly from feeling great and playing well the smoke filled room began to make my head spin. My decisions started to get worse and I started calling hands that I'd really no business in calling.

A bluff with As-4s on a flop of 8-6-10-3-3 (one spade) lost me 3k. A daft call with 7s-5s cost me another 1500. My head started to drop and I was looking for a hand to put all my chips in with.

At 11pm I get A-K in EP. I raise to 1300 holding back 6k. There's a re-raise to 3k from across the table then an all-in from LP. I call. The initial re-raiser folds showing J-J.

My lone opponent shows Q-Q and so its a 50/50 race. A flop of 8-2-5-3-5 does me no favours and I'm out in around 45th position.

I suppose looking back its always a bad idea to play in satellites for bigger events that take place just a short while after the satellite finishes. I was knackered mentally any my head was spinning. The smoke certainly didn't help!

I missed the Vic reasoning I couldn't enter a tournament if I couldn't give it 100%. The satellite...YES...main event...NO!

Entries -> 65 - Place -> 45th - Loss -> £90 (£60 satellite - £30 'donation') Profit/Loss for 2007 -> +£707

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