Feels Pretty Damn Good
Decided to head up to the Toon for the Newcastle Festival this week.
Managed to squeak into the final of the £100 NL. The blinds got pretty big and it turned into a bit of a lottery. Found TT and pushed in but Steve Lui had JJ and that was that.
Struck down by a cold I decided to give Friday's PL comp a miss.
So onto Saturday and the £500 double chance freezeout.
James Browning devised a very good structure which afforded loads of play. No crapshoot in this event.
The play in the early stages confirmed my ever growing belief that the main events in the provincial casinos are the best value poker events in Britain today.
Let me give you two examples of how i got off to a flying start in the event.
I managed to get to 20k (from a 10k start) pretty early. With the blinds 150-300 a guy with about 12k makes it 1000 to go with KK. I call on the button with 66. The BB now moves in for another 1200. The original raiser now just calls! I call too, flop a set and bust him.
Then, during the next level (200-400) an early position player limps and a young guy who had played perfectly well for the first couple of hours now moves on the button for 20k! Lucky old Camel discovers the boots on the small blind. So, with the chip average about 13k, I managed to accumulate over fifty large.
I would be lying to say I played well. The chips fell into my lap and I picked them up. The rest of day 1 was spent bullying and nicking until for the last hour I got moved to the right of WSOP champion Laurence Gosney. What a pain in the arse this bloke is. When I moved to his table I had over 90k. There were five tables left and I had more than the average for the final. But, it was inevitable I would clash with LG as we both like to play loads of flops and play them aggressively. He got the better of me in two big pots by simply outplaying me and cut me in half. I then got very lucky against Jas Pardesi. He raised my bb and I moved in with AQ. He called with AK and I lucked out by the boarding pairing twice for a split pot.
I was steaming and lucky play ended when it did. I would have tilted off the rest of my chips I think.
Day 2 was a different matter. I played really well today. I never put my chips in danger and shifted gears well. Laurence continued his path of destruction on the other table (he was moved early today, thank God).
I managed to get double my stack without showing a hand (apart from a couple of minor allin calls) and get to the final in pretty good shape.... third in chips.
For the first hour of the final Mr Gosney seemed like he was going to absolutely walk home with the prize. He knocked 4 players out in the first lap... all of them outdraws! By the time we were 5 handed he had 4/5ths of the chips in play. He was playing 90% of pots and raising virtually all of them. The only way to stay alive was to avoid him.
But, eventually the tide turned. he doubled me up when he called my allin raise with 93 (I had AK). He hit a 3 on the flop of course but I managed to turn an ace. Then, the key hand. Laurence moved allin on the button. The sb called and I woke up with QQ. I was in excellent shape against A7 and AQ and trebled up, eliminating a player in the meantime.
Down to 3 handed George Harle proved once and for all Laurence was falible. He called a raise and checked a flop of TT9. LG moved in with 55 and George showed JT to win.
Chip stacks were now: George: 400k me: 250k Laurence 100k. With £27,400 in the pot Laurence offered a cheeky deal. Me and George £10 grand each him the rest. I agreed quickly and surprisingly so did George.
I must admit I was pretty delighted. Not just because I had split the tournament, but I was really pleased with the way I played. I somehow managed to dance around Hurricane Gosney and picked my spots perfectly. George was definitely Man of the Match and deserved the trophy. He's definitely one to watch in the future if he decides to devote more time to poker.
As for the tournament itself, it was great. Stanley casino really pushed the boat out. New tables and chips were provided. Dealers, although inexperienced, were eager to learn and friendly. A free buffet was provided every night. It really was refreshing to see a casino try to please its punters.
A very enjoyable and satisfying few days.
Managed to squeak into the final of the £100 NL. The blinds got pretty big and it turned into a bit of a lottery. Found TT and pushed in but Steve Lui had JJ and that was that.
Struck down by a cold I decided to give Friday's PL comp a miss.
So onto Saturday and the £500 double chance freezeout.
James Browning devised a very good structure which afforded loads of play. No crapshoot in this event.
The play in the early stages confirmed my ever growing belief that the main events in the provincial casinos are the best value poker events in Britain today.
Let me give you two examples of how i got off to a flying start in the event.
I managed to get to 20k (from a 10k start) pretty early. With the blinds 150-300 a guy with about 12k makes it 1000 to go with KK. I call on the button with 66. The BB now moves in for another 1200. The original raiser now just calls! I call too, flop a set and bust him.
Then, during the next level (200-400) an early position player limps and a young guy who had played perfectly well for the first couple of hours now moves on the button for 20k! Lucky old Camel discovers the boots on the small blind. So, with the chip average about 13k, I managed to accumulate over fifty large.
I would be lying to say I played well. The chips fell into my lap and I picked them up. The rest of day 1 was spent bullying and nicking until for the last hour I got moved to the right of WSOP champion Laurence Gosney. What a pain in the arse this bloke is. When I moved to his table I had over 90k. There were five tables left and I had more than the average for the final. But, it was inevitable I would clash with LG as we both like to play loads of flops and play them aggressively. He got the better of me in two big pots by simply outplaying me and cut me in half. I then got very lucky against Jas Pardesi. He raised my bb and I moved in with AQ. He called with AK and I lucked out by the boarding pairing twice for a split pot.
I was steaming and lucky play ended when it did. I would have tilted off the rest of my chips I think.
Day 2 was a different matter. I played really well today. I never put my chips in danger and shifted gears well. Laurence continued his path of destruction on the other table (he was moved early today, thank God).
I managed to get double my stack without showing a hand (apart from a couple of minor allin calls) and get to the final in pretty good shape.... third in chips.
For the first hour of the final Mr Gosney seemed like he was going to absolutely walk home with the prize. He knocked 4 players out in the first lap... all of them outdraws! By the time we were 5 handed he had 4/5ths of the chips in play. He was playing 90% of pots and raising virtually all of them. The only way to stay alive was to avoid him.
But, eventually the tide turned. he doubled me up when he called my allin raise with 93 (I had AK). He hit a 3 on the flop of course but I managed to turn an ace. Then, the key hand. Laurence moved allin on the button. The sb called and I woke up with QQ. I was in excellent shape against A7 and AQ and trebled up, eliminating a player in the meantime.
Down to 3 handed George Harle proved once and for all Laurence was falible. He called a raise and checked a flop of TT9. LG moved in with 55 and George showed JT to win.
Chip stacks were now: George: 400k me: 250k Laurence 100k. With £27,400 in the pot Laurence offered a cheeky deal. Me and George £10 grand each him the rest. I agreed quickly and surprisingly so did George.
I must admit I was pretty delighted. Not just because I had split the tournament, but I was really pleased with the way I played. I somehow managed to dance around Hurricane Gosney and picked my spots perfectly. George was definitely Man of the Match and deserved the trophy. He's definitely one to watch in the future if he decides to devote more time to poker.
As for the tournament itself, it was great. Stanley casino really pushed the boat out. New tables and chips were provided. Dealers, although inexperienced, were eager to learn and friendly. A free buffet was provided every night. It really was refreshing to see a casino try to please its punters.
A very enjoyable and satisfying few days.
3 Comments:
I was toying with the idea of leaving some cliched comment about doing a certain thing rather less noisily, but I'm sure Andy Ward will beat me to it as I'm writing this. Instead I'll just say well done. You jammy scrote.
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I'd take occasional postings of quality over a regular torrent of shite any day.
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