Sat / Sun Aug 25th & 26th - Victoria & Luton

The forums are abuzz with the hand I went out on at the European APAT championships this past Sunday. Before I divulge the play, and the reason for my sudden exit, I'll start with Saturday and my trip down the Vic!

The satellite event for the £250 NL game at 7.30pm attracted 30 or so runners. This £20 rebuy event eventually offered 6 seats and £170 for 7th so how would I fair?

To begin with I couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo! I'd had 3 rebuys before I dealt myself A-J and decided that with two all-ins already in front of me I'd swallow another rebuy and hope for value. I was up against A-K and 10-10.

Its always said that if you're dealing yourself in situations like this then why not deal yourself the winning hand so on a flop of A-7-J-9-4 I reaped the pot and was suddenly upto circa 3k in chips.

From then until the break I could do no wrong. I finished up with 7k in chips and no add-on.

Total cost for satellite was £83.

After the break it was a case of sitting tight and waiting for opportunities. I took down a nice pot with 9-9 v 3-3 & 5-3 (nice man had decided to bluff!) and with 12 of us left I looked a shoo-in for a top 6 place with over 15k in chips.

Its never that easy!

By the time the final table started (9 of us) I had 10k, after playing tighter than a ducks arse, but with antes at 800-1600 I was hopeful others would drop before me.

I attempted to take out the blinds, who were short stacked themselves, with A-J. The BB refused to let go of his K-5 though and a flop of A-9-K-5-7 saw me move down to 5k and on life support myself.

With 8 left I found myself on the BB and with one stack all-in there were 5 of us in the pot. We checked down a flop of 9-9-9-7-K. I turned over my cards and found A-9 and won an 11k pot!

I'd qualified....!!

The evenings event attracted some 44 runners and a prize pool of £12,000 which to be fair I never got near!

I finished 19th though but was short stacked when I decided to make a stand with Jc-9c against an A-Q. The flop of Q-10-7 kept me interested but I then got bricked out when two fives completed the flop!

Entries -> 42 - Place -> 19th Loss-> £83 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £407

And so to Sunday....

The European APAT event held at the new 'G' casino in Luton attracted 300 runners. 150 played day 1 on the Saturday...another 150 played on the Sunday although they played 151 as one player hadn't turned up on the Saturday!

I took my seat at a friendly table of unknowns and play began at 2.30pm with 10k in chips and a 40 minute clock.

By the end of level 1 I'd 10600 and had no bother.

At the end of the table (seat 9) sat a gentleman who APPEARED to play too many pots. Infact in the time I was sat there he appeared to play in around 1 in 2 pots either by raising or re-raising. Of course it didn't bother me until I came up against him shortly after the start of level 2.

UTG I got dealt A-K and, with blinds of 50-100, I raised it up to 300. It was passed around to seat 9 who promptly re-raised to 700. I flat called and we saw a flop of 7-8-9. Not a great flop for A-K by any means so I checked. Seat 9 bet out 800 and I called. A 6 fell on the turn.

To anyone to act AFTER a bet on that flop without a 5 or a 10 in their hand would be mightily worried so when I fired out a bet of 1500 to indicate I had some of that seat 9 looked mightily pissed as he turned over Q-Q and folded. I flipped my A-K! 'Nice bet sir', he said but you could tell he wasn't happy!

About a round later I get 10h-9h in EP and decide to raise it up to test the waters. I make it 250. Its again passed to seat 9 who flat calls. You could tell he was itching to get back at me.

The flop looked nice from my point of view...10-8-4. I immediately bet out to 750 but was amazed when seat 9 then re-raised it to 3000.

To me this smelt like an obvious bluff. After all I'd just minutes earlier taken his pot away with my A-K against his Q-Q and he was surely looking to get back at me.

'I'm all-in', I said as I pushed my stack forwards. 'I call', came the reply. Oops!

He tabled 8-8, for a set, and there was no way back. I wasn't playing my cards I was playing the man. Wrong time to do it!

C'est la vie!

Entries -> 300 - Place -> --- Loss-> £75 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £482

Aug 21st - £100 NL Hold'Em (Western Club)

The thing about playing poker tournaments is that every hand you play could be your last! Not that you plan it that way of course but circumstances dictate that nomatter HOW you play the hand you're given your fate will ultimately rest on two things.

1. The flop
2. The actions of others

Last night at the Western there were 70 runners for the £100 event. By far the largest turnout for the Tuesday game I can remember.

I'd got to the club at 6.30pm intending on playing some Internet poker for a while but a cash game with a seat got me interested in that so I sat down with £200. Thirty-five minutes late the game broke in order to play a satellite for the evenings £100 event and I cashed in for £415!

Nice start!

Having then paid out £24 for the satellite (finishing 5th) I then bought in for the main game and put £50 on my FT account for a quick stab at some cash games.

I bought into a $55 turbo S & T, finished 2nd, and just before 8pm I had almost $200 in my account from a start point of $100. Bought into the HendonMob league tourney for $10 then proceeded to plod through that till the start of the £100 event I'd obviously come for!

Being still in the HM event online I had to keep flitting from the 'live' play back to the 'internet' play which is not the best of things to do as ones concentration tends to wander easily. Anyway after doubling up on the HM event I sat out and concentrated on the live game...for what it was worth!

Arriving back at my tabe I find myself on the button. Blinds were 100-200 and I got dealt Ac-2s. Crappy hand at the best of times but as there was no raise I flat called the 200 and saw a flop of Jc-7c-3c.

Now with a hand like mine (nut flush draw) you're ALWAYS going to play it but it ended up costing me all my chips.

The SB bet out to 300. Player in MP raised to 800. I flat called the 800. SB goes all-in for 4k more. MP calls all-in. I'm now getting over 2/1 my money and, as Phil Laak would say, it was time to 'CFM' - call for maths!

SB flips 8c-4c for a made flush. MP flips 7-7 for a set. I'm on the nut flush draw!

Turn card is the 10h. River card is the Qs. That was that!!

Meanwhile back on the 'Internet' I finish 8th in the HM league event for some $30 and win $300 in PL Omaha! I cash out for £250 at the desk!

I can't complain!

Entries -> 70 - Place -> --- Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> -£326
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)

Aug 14th - £100 NL Hold'Em (Western Club)

Back in the saddle, as it were, after a 6 week hiatus from playing 'live' poker I found myself at tonights £100 NL game at the Western a little unsure as to the rules.

Not the rules as in 'two cards to start...round of betting...etc etc' but as in 'raise with good hands', 'call for cheap flops with suited connectors etc'. For the first 30 mins or so I realised I was asleep as pot after pot went in other directions so I decided to wake up and play poker!

For a while it worked. I got a nice pay off why my flush hit and got doubled up when my opponent had hit his straight when I'd hit the nut flush on a board of 5d-6d-9c-9d. At the 1st break (90 mins) I had 12k and wondered how I'd managed to ever lose at this game!

Part two though was more of a struggle as I'd forgotton that not only do you need cards to start with but you also need a bit of luck on the flop. I was getting neither so for this part of the evening I meandered around the 12k mark feeling increasingly fidgity at the fact I'd ground to a halt!

Blinds kicked off at 400/800 when I got A-10 in LP and raised it upto 2k. The SB, who has approx 7k left, went into a huddle for all of 10 secs before announcing that he was all-in. All remaining players passed back to me and I decided to call.

He flipped 7d-8d and I looked to be a nice fav until the flip of 6d-4d-9c took the shine off. The 2h fell on the turn but a poxy Kd fell on the river and I was back down to around 7k myself.

With it now costing 1200 for every time the button would pass having only 7k is not a nice place to be so I lumped it it with Js-9s to be called by a player immediately to my left to 3k with A-Q. I lost.

Next all-in I held Kc-10c. All passed and I picked up the antes. Next all-in I have A-4 and AGAIN I get called by the player to my left who has A-Q again. No luck and I'm out in 19th place (out of 59).

Ah well...its good to be back!

Entries -> 59 - Place -> 19th Loss-> £110 Profit/Loss for 2007 -> £216
(As from 20th April 2007 rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $2.00)