Had a pleasant walk around Manchester in the morning after an excellent breakfast of "award winning" sausage.
Decided to watch the rugby and play some pokerstars to try to qualify for the Sunday million. Bet on Scotland at 7-1 and then hedged it off when they raced into an unlikely lead.
My internet connection was very slow and so my headging went a bit wonky and I ended up with more Wales than I wanted - but got a flukey result. Some dodgy timekeeping from the ref got me £50.
Played in the £330 side tournament - kick off at 7pm.
We started with 103 runnersbut this went up to 120 with alternates so prize pool about £36,000.
Start with 10,000 chips. 45 minute levels.
Level 1 25/50. Limped a few times and won 1 hand with kq to stay roughly even.
In Level 2 (50/100) unfortunately my AA from the SB gets cracked by QQ in the BB on a flop of Q98 so down to 2500 chips at the first break.
I think this was a cooler. I sneakily limped preflop and called his 200 raise. I check raised his 600 flop bet with 2000 more but when he moved all-in for another 5000 I can't really fold.
On level 3 (75/150) I doubled through having called a raise and call with QTh on the button. Flop is 55T so I push over the top of a standard continuation bet. He has to call with AK.
I then move up to 6000 when I pushed all in over raise and reraise. A classic squeeze play (but I did have ak).
Later I raise with KK utg and the BB calls. Flop is A33. He checks so I try a continuation bet and get called. We check it down - he had a weak A so down to 4k.
I start Level 4 (100/200) with 4000. I am sat next to the pianoman (according to his shirt) - apparently he did look like Joel when he was younger and had some hair. Apparently he is a proper piano shop owner and here is his site www.thepianoman.co.uk so I guess I believe him.
Poker karma definitely kicking in. The dealer who stitched me up earlier with AA vs QQ returns to deal me AA again, but this time against a small stack with TT. He flops a T but I get an unlikely runner runner flush - up to 7k.
Remarkably I make it to the second break with 4k despite a setback when raising from late position with 66 but having to fold to heat.
Organisation here is a bit rubbish - incomprehensible PA and biro/back of envelope table moves are the order of the day.
I start at a new table but we don't know when to begin or what the blinds are. This is the liveliest table I have played on - a good mix of locals and some scandis. Plenty of banter - with food being a particular issue. 2 guys get some excellent curries delivered (proper baltis with silver bowls and everything) - but it transpired that someone else had ordered a steak 30 minutes before them and was still waiting. The floor is called for a ruling and naturally our man gets 2 steaks about 5 minutes later.
It is level 5 with blinds 150/300 so it is time to start wielding the short stack. I call a standard raise and call from the bb with 78 spades. Flop is k high with 2 spades so I shove. They squeal but fold..up to 5000.
I just about make it to Level 6 when the antes start 150/300/25 when I pick up 99 on the button and move all-in over a limp. He calls with KQ and makes 2 pairs to eliminate me in 75th spot.
So a rather curious tournament. I probably played around 120 hands and got dealt 3 grade A pairs - more than would be expected - and yet I did not really get anywhere.
Looking back on the main event I think these might be worth playing - big enough prizes to justify the expenses of getting here I think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment