May 1st - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em (Western)

Undoubtedly at poker there are times when things need to 'break' for you. Whether it be that your K-Q beats out A-10 or your 3-3 beats on 7-7 there will come a time when you'll need to catch a card or two to stay in the game. Tonight at the Western was a mixture of both for me!

With the footy on tv there were 38 runners for the £110 NL Hold'Em event. After last weeks 3rd place I was keen to put into practice what had proved so successful last week but playing hands like I do in suited connectors etc comes with a higher risk of failure than playing A-A all night!!

Early doors and as usual the play is controlled from all parties concerned. The first real action comes in level 2. I get dealt Kd-Qc in LP and with the blinds at 50-100 I flat a small raise to 300 from across the table, as do 3 others! Flop is Kc-6c-2c.

The original raiser bets out to 300. I re-raise to 800 and a player in the blinds re-raises to 1600! The original raiser folds. In situations like this I can never fold. Of course I COULD...but I dont so go all-in. After stating that he can't possibly put HIS hand down either my opponent calls the bet and flips Jc-9c for the completed flush. I'm looking for a club to save me. That doesn't come!!

What DOES come though is another 2 followed by another King giving me an unlikely full house!! I'm now on 12k and cruising.

Cruising that is until I decide to call a shortish stack (4k) and his all-in bet with 9-9. He flips A-9 and the inevitable Ace appears on the flop knocking me back somewhat!

I continue to increase my chip stack though and by level 6 I'm on 18k with around 12 people left. Then comes a kick in the goolies!!

With blinds at 200-400 its the last hand of the level. Im on the button and look down to see 4d-7d. There are no raises and I flat call the blinds. Five of us see a flop of Qd-2d-7s. Player on the SB bets our to 2k immediately. Its passed back around to me and I put in a raise to cover the SB's chips. He calls and flips Q-2 for 2 pair on the flop. The 6d falls on the turn and it looks like its a done deal for me but a horrible 2 appears on the river to give my opponent a full house and I'm back down to 11k!

Through the next level I creep back upto 14k and I hit the final table with just short of average chips.

Of course though its now when you need the luck.

A few hands in, on the BB, I get dealt A-A. Great...all I need now is a raiser. Nuffin. Not a jot.

The SB makes up the meagre blinds and I raise another 4k. He passes. Pooey!!

Few hands later I get Ks-Js in MP. I raise it to 5k with blinds still at 600-1200. I run into A-A from a guy who's short on chips (6200) from across the table. A flop of 4s-7s-Kc looks promising but I can't connect on the turn or river and I'm down to less than 8k with blinds just about to go to 800-1600.

I'm, of course, now looking to double up. My next move is all-in!!

I find K-Q on the SB. Its raised to 5k from the button and I shove. The original raiser sighs and calls the extra 2k. He has A-6.

A board no higher than a 10 ensues and I'm out in 10th place - 4 off the money!

Entries -> 38 - Place -> 10th - Loss -> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£941

(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)