I played the main event on Saturday 27th September - having qualified on line at Virgin Poker.
We started at 2 pm with 10,000 chips and a good slow structure.
In first 2 levels made a couple of largeish laydowns
Played 67 with flop of 789. I call a bet. Turn is 6 and river 9. Limp a5d from the button. Flop k69 one d. I bet and get called. Turn 6 river 9 both diamonds but I fold to big bet from the small blind.
after the break I have a6s on the button flop is j94 two spades. Blinds are 100/200 so when mid pos limpet bets only 600 I reraise to 1500. He calls and then checks the raggedy turn. River is a beautiful spade and he check calls my 1500 bet - sweet.
Then the cooler. I call a min raise with 78s from late position as does the button and big blind. Flop is 69T giving me the nut straight. There are 2 checks to me but the button has been quite agressive so I am pretty sure he will bet. He bets 800 and BB raises to 3000. I naturally move all in and the BB calls. He has TT for a set but the dealer turns a 6 to fill him up. I am virtually dead with 1200 chips. A few hands later I have A2 in bb and after two limps and a board of 972 I move all in but called by T9.
I do not think I could have avoided anything really.
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Thursday, 25 September 2008
APAT Stud - I am interviewed
Here it is - my interview before the stud final http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzxZldC-50o
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Poker player tournament - Brighton
This tournament was sponsored by poker player magazine.
100 runners paying £50 each with the winner getting a gukpt seat as well as £1500.
We started with 5000 chips with blinds 25/50
Early on I called a raise with ak and the flop was a67 all diamonds. I raised a bet of 300 to 900 and he called. Turn is a rag but I smell a rat so I check behind. River another rag and when he checks I do too and he shows a flopped flush.
I win some chips later when I reraise a flop of q75 with 2 spades when holding kqd. I think he probably had aq because he said he thought I had a big flush draw.
Not much happens then the fickle poker gods strike.
First I have 62 on the bb when the blinds are 150/300. The flop is T96 after 3 limps. All check. Turn is a 6. I check ready to raise but no takers. River is A so this time I am sure someone will bet. Sure enough someone bets 800 and calls my extra 1000. Sweet.
Next hand I am sb. I have 57h so I call 3 limpers. Flop is a beautiful 77A so I check. No action. Turn is Q surely someone will bet. I check BB bets 400 and is raised to 1500. There are 2 diamonds now so I think the raiser probably has the Ad. Clearly the bb had Q so he folds. Raiser calls my all in and shows 78. So looks like a split until he catches an 8 on the river.
Now I have 600 chips but the very next hand I get as and I double through qq.
After the break blinds are 200/400 so I am looking to go all in. I get T9h in mid position so I am in. There is a call all in from someone with 600 and 2 further callers. The bb is getting good value too so we end up 5 way. Flop is 236 turn 9 so when my nemesis bets and the others fold I am happy to see the other all in show 55 and the bettor 65. But then he rivers me again with a 4
He had better win it!
100 runners paying £50 each with the winner getting a gukpt seat as well as £1500.
We started with 5000 chips with blinds 25/50
Early on I called a raise with ak and the flop was a67 all diamonds. I raised a bet of 300 to 900 and he called. Turn is a rag but I smell a rat so I check behind. River another rag and when he checks I do too and he shows a flopped flush.
I win some chips later when I reraise a flop of q75 with 2 spades when holding kqd. I think he probably had aq because he said he thought I had a big flush draw.
Not much happens then the fickle poker gods strike.
First I have 62 on the bb when the blinds are 150/300. The flop is T96 after 3 limps. All check. Turn is a 6. I check ready to raise but no takers. River is A so this time I am sure someone will bet. Sure enough someone bets 800 and calls my extra 1000. Sweet.
Next hand I am sb. I have 57h so I call 3 limpers. Flop is a beautiful 77A so I check. No action. Turn is Q surely someone will bet. I check BB bets 400 and is raised to 1500. There are 2 diamonds now so I think the raiser probably has the Ad. Clearly the bb had Q so he folds. Raiser calls my all in and shows 78. So looks like a split until he catches an 8 on the river.
Now I have 600 chips but the very next hand I get as and I double through qq.
After the break blinds are 200/400 so I am looking to go all in. I get T9h in mid position so I am in. There is a call all in from someone with 600 and 2 further callers. The bb is getting good value too so we end up 5 way. Flop is 236 turn 9 so when my nemesis bets and the others fold I am happy to see the other all in show 55 and the bettor 65. But then he rivers me again with a 4
He had better win it!
Saturday, 30 August 2008
APAT - Main event
This was a pretty good tournament starting with 10k chips with 40min levels. I managed to not lose all my chips when playing out this hand:
Blinds are 50/100 and I limp with 88 in mid position. 5 players see a flop of JJ8 - sweet! It is checked to me and I naturally check. The turn is Ks to match Js. The SB bets 200 and I just call after the BB folds. I hope for a raise from late position but only one caller. I pray for a spade to come to make someone a flush but instead it is a K on the river. The SB bets out and I have to throw my hand away. He is raised all-in and calls and of course they both have K rag. So that river was the case K to screw me.
I don't go on tilt but shortly before dinner after several all-ins that are not called my A6 move from the button is called by the BB with AK. The dealer ships me a 6 to get me up to 12k chips.
I play a couple more biggish pots, doubling up when my AK beat QQ and then taking out a short stack with JJ vs 99.
I now have around 40k in chips when I make a routine raise from the button to 6k when the blinds are 1/2. I have ATd so when the big blind who has about 70k reraises me to 20k I think that he is just trying to bully me back. I decide that I am going to need a lot more chips so I go all-in. He calls with AK and I suck out with a T on the river. He is not happy.
I think this is a major leak in my game. I seem able to fold to a reraise if I am stealing from the cut off or nearby but for some reason I never believe the blinds have a hand when they play back at me.
This puts me on 80k with about 40 left from 200 and not much happens for a couple of levels until we are getting close to the end of the 2k/4k level. It is now after midnight and we have been going since 2.30. It is amazing how one moment you have 20x BB and then suddenly it all goes wrong.
I have to fold my BB and SB to raises. Down to 74k. I pick up KQ in the cut off so make a standard raise to 12k. The button raises all-in and I have to fold. Then the blinds go up to 3/6. we play one orbit and I get nothing playable and I lose another set of blinds. Down to 53k. I get QT suited in the cut-off. Now I should possibly have gone all-in but instead I raise to 15k. The button goes all-in over the top again and I have to fold. Now I only have 38k. 2 hands later I get KTh. I go all-in, reraise all-in to my left with AQ followed by call with AA. It is all over.
So now I have an APAT bronze and silver medal, but no gold....
Blinds are 50/100 and I limp with 88 in mid position. 5 players see a flop of JJ8 - sweet! It is checked to me and I naturally check. The turn is Ks to match Js. The SB bets 200 and I just call after the BB folds. I hope for a raise from late position but only one caller. I pray for a spade to come to make someone a flush but instead it is a K on the river. The SB bets out and I have to throw my hand away. He is raised all-in and calls and of course they both have K rag. So that river was the case K to screw me.
I don't go on tilt but shortly before dinner after several all-ins that are not called my A6 move from the button is called by the BB with AK. The dealer ships me a 6 to get me up to 12k chips.
I play a couple more biggish pots, doubling up when my AK beat QQ and then taking out a short stack with JJ vs 99.
I now have around 40k in chips when I make a routine raise from the button to 6k when the blinds are 1/2. I have ATd so when the big blind who has about 70k reraises me to 20k I think that he is just trying to bully me back. I decide that I am going to need a lot more chips so I go all-in. He calls with AK and I suck out with a T on the river. He is not happy.
I think this is a major leak in my game. I seem able to fold to a reraise if I am stealing from the cut off or nearby but for some reason I never believe the blinds have a hand when they play back at me.
This puts me on 80k with about 40 left from 200 and not much happens for a couple of levels until we are getting close to the end of the 2k/4k level. It is now after midnight and we have been going since 2.30. It is amazing how one moment you have 20x BB and then suddenly it all goes wrong.
I have to fold my BB and SB to raises. Down to 74k. I pick up KQ in the cut off so make a standard raise to 12k. The button raises all-in and I have to fold. Then the blinds go up to 3/6. we play one orbit and I get nothing playable and I lose another set of blinds. Down to 53k. I get QT suited in the cut-off. Now I should possibly have gone all-in but instead I raise to 15k. The button goes all-in over the top again and I have to fold. Now I only have 38k. 2 hands later I get KTh. I go all-in, reraise all-in to my left with AQ followed by call with AA. It is all over.
So now I have an APAT bronze and silver medal, but no gold....
Friday, 29 August 2008
APAT - 7 card stud
We started with 3000 chips and after 2 levels I have 2000. Blimey is this game slow! I am keeping to the rules (folding if you can't beat the board) and was a bit unlucky to lose to a higher straight
At second break I have 7000. There were a couple of hands where it was pretty obvious what my opponent had so was able to get maximum chips when pairing a hidden Ace when my opponent had started with an open queen.
Made it to final table with a huge stack - pictures and commentary here www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=1921.105. This was all down to one crazy hand. To be honest i can't remember the exact details. We are down to 2 tables with antes of 100, bring in of 200 completion 500 and blinds 500/1000. I have 86 in the hole with an 8 showing. The bring in has a 5c up and that is raised by the player to their left who has 5d the player to my right calls with 7s. I decide to call since the raiser is Anne who has raised with any old rubbish earlier. The bring in calls so we have 4 runners with 2800 in the pot. Now the hands are:
P1-5cTd : P2-5d4d : P3-7sJs and I get Qh.
I check as does P1 - P2 bets 500 and we all call. I am happy to stay in because my queen is a high card and it is cheap . I am probably going to fold next round when the blinds double up.
Now we see:
P1-5cTd9c : P2-5d4d3d : P3-7sJs2s and I get 6h. So now I have 2 pairs. I check as does P1 then P2 bets 1000 and P3 calls. Now the pot is 6800 and so I am getting 7 to 1. I think that I may well need to hit my full house to win and I have only got 3 cards to make it - one 6 is out. However my hand is pretty well disguised - and I also know that I am not that good at this game so perhaps a little speculation is needed. I also figure I am up against 2 flush draws so may be I won't need my full to win. I call and then to everyone's surprise P1 raises another 1000. P2 folds - she says later say had AA in the hole (but not Ad). P3 folds - he says later he had a set (presumably 2s) but I can't really believe that. So now the pot is 9800. Now I am heads up so after I call this bet it will only cost me another 1000 to see the last 2 cards. His board is not that scarey, so perhaps he has no more than a draw too? I decide to call. He gets a K and I get a 4. he bets 1000 and by now I have to call. I blank on the river and am about to fold if he bets. But he checks to me and I show down the winning hand of 2 pairs.
At the final table I am undone by 3 slightly unlucky hands. First I have the eventual winner all in when I start by raising with split tens vs his Jh up card. He calles and then catches Qh which he bets out with his last chips - I have to call and he show Kh 4h - he makes his flush to double through.
Then I play a big pot when I pair my hidden A on fourth street when my opponent pairs an open J. We play to the river and I don't make 2 pairs. Finally I have A3 in the hole with T showing to match my opponents T. I am low on chips so when he raises the bring in I reraise for most of my stack. He calls but only has J in the hole. We don't improve until the river when he catches a J to knock me out. Shame!
I get a bronze medal and £300 - but I feel perhaps I should have done better...perhaps by avoiding confrontation in the 3 way play.
At second break I have 7000. There were a couple of hands where it was pretty obvious what my opponent had so was able to get maximum chips when pairing a hidden Ace when my opponent had started with an open queen.
Made it to final table with a huge stack - pictures and commentary here www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=1921.105. This was all down to one crazy hand. To be honest i can't remember the exact details. We are down to 2 tables with antes of 100, bring in of 200 completion 500 and blinds 500/1000. I have 86 in the hole with an 8 showing. The bring in has a 5c up and that is raised by the player to their left who has 5d the player to my right calls with 7s. I decide to call since the raiser is Anne who has raised with any old rubbish earlier. The bring in calls so we have 4 runners with 2800 in the pot. Now the hands are:
P1-5cTd : P2-5d4d : P3-7sJs and I get Qh.
I check as does P1 - P2 bets 500 and we all call. I am happy to stay in because my queen is a high card and it is cheap . I am probably going to fold next round when the blinds double up.
Now we see:
P1-5cTd9c : P2-5d4d3d : P3-7sJs2s and I get 6h. So now I have 2 pairs. I check as does P1 then P2 bets 1000 and P3 calls. Now the pot is 6800 and so I am getting 7 to 1. I think that I may well need to hit my full house to win and I have only got 3 cards to make it - one 6 is out. However my hand is pretty well disguised - and I also know that I am not that good at this game so perhaps a little speculation is needed. I also figure I am up against 2 flush draws so may be I won't need my full to win. I call and then to everyone's surprise P1 raises another 1000. P2 folds - she says later say had AA in the hole (but not Ad). P3 folds - he says later he had a set (presumably 2s) but I can't really believe that. So now the pot is 9800. Now I am heads up so after I call this bet it will only cost me another 1000 to see the last 2 cards. His board is not that scarey, so perhaps he has no more than a draw too? I decide to call. He gets a K and I get a 4. he bets 1000 and by now I have to call. I blank on the river and am about to fold if he bets. But he checks to me and I show down the winning hand of 2 pairs.
At the final table I am undone by 3 slightly unlucky hands. First I have the eventual winner all in when I start by raising with split tens vs his Jh up card. He calles and then catches Qh which he bets out with his last chips - I have to call and he show Kh 4h - he makes his flush to double through.
Then I play a big pot when I pair my hidden A on fourth street when my opponent pairs an open J. We play to the river and I don't make 2 pairs. Finally I have A3 in the hole with T showing to match my opponents T. I am low on chips so when he raises the bring in I reraise for most of my stack. He calls but only has J in the hole. We don't improve until the river when he catches a J to knock me out. Shame!
I get a bronze medal and £300 - but I feel perhaps I should have done better...perhaps by avoiding confrontation in the 3 way play.
Sunday, 24 August 2008
GSOP 2008 - Some interesting hands
I played in the Gutshot £500 buy-in tournament played over the bank holiday weekend. More information here http://www.blogger.com/www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=28629&page=6
I got in via the £30 rebuy satellite - so it had cost me £90 to play.
We started with 20,000 chips and blinds 50/100 - 90 minute levels.
Not much happened until level 2.
Hand 1 - blinds 100/200.
I have JJ in the small blind. The button makes a standard raise of 600, so I reraise to 2000 and he calls. Flop is KQ9 so I decide to bet 3000 into the 4000 pot. He reraises to put me all-in and I have to fold. I think I should have checked the flop and folded perhaps...
I got in via the £30 rebuy satellite - so it had cost me £90 to play.
We started with 20,000 chips and blinds 50/100 - 90 minute levels.
Not much happened until level 2.
Hand 1 - blinds 100/200.
I have JJ in the small blind. The button makes a standard raise of 600, so I reraise to 2000 and he calls. Flop is KQ9 so I decide to bet 3000 into the 4000 pot. He reraises to put me all-in and I have to fold. I think I should have checked the flop and folded perhaps...
A typical JJ hand!
Hand 2 - blinds 400/800 100 ante.
I am running low on chips - I have 15,000 - when I pick AA in the BB - beautiful. Even better there is a standard raise to 2.5k and a reraise to 7.5k. I am tempted to call, but think it better to get heads up if possible so shove in my final 15k. Surprisingly they both fold. Should I just call here? I am not convinced.
A nice boost to my chips - and gets me to the end of day 1 with 24,000.
Hand 3 - blinds 500/1000 ante 100
My stack has dwindled to 16,000 when I get AK under the gun. I raise to 3000 and I am called by the small blind. The flop comes A89 and he checks to me. I bet 5000 and he raises me all-in. I think he can easily have AQ / AJ but unlikely to have A9 or A8. Or perhaps he has a set of 8's or 9's. I have to call and he shows A8. The turn is T and I now have quite a few outs. The dealer pops a 9 to counterfeit his pair of 8's so I double up.
The moral of this tale is don't call with a weak A!
Hand 4 - blinds 600/1200 ante 200
We are now down to 24 players. Only 9 get paid and the average stack is about 70k. I have about 30,000 so I am pretty much in all-in territory. I pick up 88 on the button and when it is folded around to me I make a standard raise of 3.5k. The big blind calls. Flop is Q53 with 2 clubs - he checks so I bet 6000 to see if he has a Q - he calls. The turn is a red 4 and he checks to me. I decide to see the river and it comes Kd. He checks again and I bet 8k. He has a massive stack and reraises me all-in. I think he is bullying me and call but he shows q7 to knock me out. I don't think I played it very well at all - I should have just shown down at the river.
My excuse is that it had been a bit of a marathon and I was looking to double or quit. I am sure Gareth would not have cracked here.
Hopefully another lesson learned...
Sunday, 13 July 2008
WSOP 2008 - Back home
A quick retrospective on my week in Vegas.
Railbird seems to rather like the place - she has stayed on for the last 3 nights at the Wynn - I hope she will be well behaved without me to keep an eye on her.
I tried a few table games - there were several different ones and got a couple of flukey wins to make me a $1000 winner on them overall.
I played a couple more tournaments - Thursday $550 at the Venetian - unfortunately my Aces were cracked by Jacks - so Aces 4 times this week. One time I picked up the blinds, once I tied with another pair of Aces and the other two times they were cracked. The other tournament was at the Wynn a $200 60 runner affair. I got trapped with a big blind special - one of those typical flops where my hand of A6 of diamonds looked like it had turned into a monster when the flop came 642 with 2 diamonds. However my opponent had limped with 53 and I did not improve. This knocked me down to 600 chips with the blinds at 200/400. I went all in with Q6 on the button after one limper - I was called by the BB and the limper. They had A7 and AT but I hit my 6. A round later I went all-in again on the button with J7 and the BB thought forever before calling with AK - and was suprised I has such a poor hand - clearly a cash game player. I got luck again to hit my jack. So now I had 3000 chips and when I limped with AK under the gun had 2 limpers followed by a raise from the cut off I was happy to go all-in. He called with 45 and got a straight - ironic.
So on poker tournaments I was $1000 down.
On my last night I decide to try a cash game - 2/5 no limit. Got KK quite early so was up to $700 after buying in for $500. However I got involved in a limped pot with 34 in the BB. When the flop came 34K with 2 clubs I led out for $20 pot bet and got 2 callers. Turn was a 7. I bet $75 and one caller. River was T, and now there was no flush. I bet $150 and he reraises me all-in. Oh s**t. I should have folded but somehow the word call escaped my lips - oh dear - he had turned a straight.
I was down to $250 and hoping to get involved with a crazy drunk Serbian who was raising everything and the very next hand I get AT spades in the SB. The serbian raises to $50 (his usual opening bet) in mid position. One call from beardy on the button who has had a few run-ins with the serb. I reraise all-in. The serbian of course shoves over the top for $500. Beardy thinks and calls eventually. I am not surprised to see the serb table T8 but when beardy shows 87 it is a bit of a shock. The dealer, of course, flops QJ9 and no get out for me. I should have reloaded but I had just had enough and slunk off to bed.
So my total gambling loss was $500 for the week - perfectly acceptable.
I would be very happy to return to the Wynn - but not sure whether I will be able to afford it.
...and finally a tip if you fly to Vegas - check in online a few hours before flying back and turn up at the airport about 1 hour and a quarter before your flight time and you won't have to queue for ages.
Railbird seems to rather like the place - she has stayed on for the last 3 nights at the Wynn - I hope she will be well behaved without me to keep an eye on her.
I tried a few table games - there were several different ones and got a couple of flukey wins to make me a $1000 winner on them overall.
I played a couple more tournaments - Thursday $550 at the Venetian - unfortunately my Aces were cracked by Jacks - so Aces 4 times this week. One time I picked up the blinds, once I tied with another pair of Aces and the other two times they were cracked. The other tournament was at the Wynn a $200 60 runner affair. I got trapped with a big blind special - one of those typical flops where my hand of A6 of diamonds looked like it had turned into a monster when the flop came 642 with 2 diamonds. However my opponent had limped with 53 and I did not improve. This knocked me down to 600 chips with the blinds at 200/400. I went all in with Q6 on the button after one limper - I was called by the BB and the limper. They had A7 and AT but I hit my 6. A round later I went all-in again on the button with J7 and the BB thought forever before calling with AK - and was suprised I has such a poor hand - clearly a cash game player. I got luck again to hit my jack. So now I had 3000 chips and when I limped with AK under the gun had 2 limpers followed by a raise from the cut off I was happy to go all-in. He called with 45 and got a straight - ironic.
So on poker tournaments I was $1000 down.
On my last night I decide to try a cash game - 2/5 no limit. Got KK quite early so was up to $700 after buying in for $500. However I got involved in a limped pot with 34 in the BB. When the flop came 34K with 2 clubs I led out for $20 pot bet and got 2 callers. Turn was a 7. I bet $75 and one caller. River was T, and now there was no flush. I bet $150 and he reraises me all-in. Oh s**t. I should have folded but somehow the word call escaped my lips - oh dear - he had turned a straight.
I was down to $250 and hoping to get involved with a crazy drunk Serbian who was raising everything and the very next hand I get AT spades in the SB. The serbian raises to $50 (his usual opening bet) in mid position. One call from beardy on the button who has had a few run-ins with the serb. I reraise all-in. The serbian of course shoves over the top for $500. Beardy thinks and calls eventually. I am not surprised to see the serb table T8 but when beardy shows 87 it is a bit of a shock. The dealer, of course, flops QJ9 and no get out for me. I should have reloaded but I had just had enough and slunk off to bed.
So my total gambling loss was $500 for the week - perfectly acceptable.
I would be very happy to return to the Wynn - but not sure whether I will be able to afford it.
...and finally a tip if you fly to Vegas - check in online a few hours before flying back and turn up at the airport about 1 hour and a quarter before your flight time and you won't have to queue for ages.
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