Saturday 24 October 2009

Ok its early on Sunday morning and I’ve just finished playing live. I decided that to try and prepare for the upcoming GukPT I needed ‘table time’ but more importantly I needed a long period sat playing poker. To achieve this I decided today to play two live events, the first one being the afternoon tournament at the ‘G’ and then follow this with the evening one at the Castle, both in Blackpool.

2pm the ‘G’ was a £15 buy in with one re-buy and one top up (4000 chips) 32 players. The first hand I picked up K 10 off suit and limped in UTG. The table was passive and the limp worked, the flop came K, 10, rag but there was a flush draw on the board so I bet the 2 pairs ensuring that flush had not pot odds to make the call (225 into 300 pot). Table folded back to the BB who had checked the flop and she called. I obviously put her on the flush draw looking for a free card, she called. I respect the caller as I have played many times with her and due to this I re-evaluated the hand holding as I suspected even in the first hand she would not be chasing the flush. The turn card came a non flushing card and the BB bet it (300 into 750). So I re-raised to 900, the BB considered the pot and made a good lay down putting me on two pairs. Throughout the re-buy period I made steady progress however I did use my re-buy and top up, intentionally ‘dumping off’ a small number of chips to facilitate this and went to the break with a stack of 9,300 (just below chip average). Through the next period of play I maintained the chip average without any great drama, but was playing tight controlled poker and was well disciplined in folding hands pre fold to ensure that a tight table image was maintained.

Spent my time observing closely the other players and this was rewarded in the late stages when an aggressive player who I had observed never limped into un-raised pots limped from early position. I looked down and saw Q,Q, the limp from this player alarmed me and also I noticed another player who was acting after me was already moving his stack for a re-raise so I folded. The other player re-raised the pot and got himself ‘pot stuck’ when the original player who had limped re-re- raised him ‘All In’. Cards on the backs with the original limper showing A,A. Great fold!

FINAL TABLE

Drew seat 10, I hate it as views of players 1 & 2 are restricted, but got my head down and got on with the game. Only 4 players to cash. I was above average stack but only in the middle of the pack as far as chips were concerned, time for more solid patient poker whilst looking for opportunities to maintain my position as I knew the short stacks would be pushing with less than premium hands, I was correct and quickly the table was down to 6 players. Ok so now my priority was to ensure that I cashed, but I was now the short stack but not on life support so I had a couple of orbits. The cards which had been indifferent ran good and I took the blinds down twice on 3 consecutive orbits thereby maintaining my stack. Another player goes and its ‘bubble time’, All In follows All In and each time the short stack survives to fight another hand until eventually the bubble bursts, happy days as its my first cash for over a month which is unusual for me. Ok I eventually go in 4th place but collect £90 for my trouble 100% profit on outlay.

Sat, 24 Oct 2009

£15 No Limit Texas Holdem with 1 Rebuy and 1 Add On
Entries: 28
Prize Pool: £915

Position Name Prize
1 Micheal Clarke £425
2 Trevor Haddick £260
3 Anon £140
4 John Hare £90

Start the car and drive over to The Castle for the 10,000 chip £20 game. I spend the 25 minute journey reflecting on my game and come to the conclusion it was just as I wanted it to be, solid ABC poker with few errors and some very good laydowns. The one fault being not maximizing the big pots, time to correct this! I arrive at The Castle at 8.05pm (ten minutes to spare). There are only 23 players so very little value in the pot however the cash is not as important as using the table time.

In the first two levels I make steady progress and move my stack from 10,000 to 16,000, but as before spend time observing the other players, on a positive note I do not loose a hand in these levels where I remain to see the turn card. A Table move sees me join the chip leader’s table and she is obviously running all over the table due to the wall of chips sat in front of her. I take a nice size pot down when I hit trip 10’s and a few hands later I raise my BB to 2200 (blinds 300 / 600) when I find A,J suited to 5 limpers. One caller so I’m out of position. I know little about this player other than what I have observed but he likes to see plenty of flops however I feel he tends to be passive post flop. I’m very mindful of being out of position post flop. The board comes 6 high and rainbow so I fire a continuation bet of 3200 having missed totally, I need to be the aggressor, he looks at his hand and folds rolling over A, K off suit saying you’ve got an over pair, my cards in the muck and say ‘good fold!’. This is great information as I know he firstly limps with A,K, and secondly can be bet off hands even when he has position.

20 minutes later I pick up J,J, and raise from mid position, the rest fold to the BB who immediately calls. The flop comes 10 high and she checks, I bet my J,J strongly and she re-raises me. I consider this re-raise and lay my J,J down as I believe she has either hit two pairs (unlikely due to the texture of the flop and pre-flop raise), more likely she has tripped up her pocket pair. I want the information and therefore, to send out a message to the other players, to enforce my table image I show my folded J,J saying ‘your trips are good’. The BB shows 10,10 so my read was spot on. The break comes and my chips are 14,400 still above chip average, a few players have departed and I feel happy with my game.

FINAL TABLE

Second final table of the day and I find myself mid chip count and draw seat 2, four players as fairly short stacked again and the ability of the players is fairly high. Time for more tight AB C poker whilst looking for opportunities. It goes well and I fold a succession of big-ish hands ( A, 8 suit to A, 10 off suit) and in the main I was correct to fold as I would have faced re-raises to All In pushes from the short stacks, the ‘radar’ is working well! The money bubble comes and goes (down to the final 3) and except for the chip leader who could do a sponsored walk along the wall of chips sat in front of her I am in second by some way to the short stack.

Key hand – I’m in the BB (blinds 2500 / 5000) I look down and see A 5 diamonds, the short stack pushed (another 12000 to call), the small blind announces ’I can’t call with this rubbish’ and folds. I make the call and the all in shows K,Q off suit. Flop comes K,Q 10 but only one diamond, So I need running diamonds / Aces or J for Broadway, no luck and I’m crippled. I got my chips in good! A few hands later I’m out in 3rd, another cash and the end of 12 hours of poker.

Objective achieved, I have cashed twice and more importantly I have played strong poker all day.

** No results uploaded onto AWOP **