Poker: Casino trip for £200 Holdem NL freezeout

The Casino was pretty quiet so just hoped there would be at least 6 people for a game... but 5 minutes to go before the scheduled off, and there are only 3 players ! Luckily there is a late rush of entrants and we have one table of 10 players for the game and kick off at 5:15pm

I had decided to take it slow and steady with my first objective of not being the first one out firmly in mind. We had 10'000 chips to start, 30 minute blind levels and 25/50 starting blinds so had plenty of time. For the first hand I was Small Blind and picked up KJ o/s so decided to play. The button made a minimum raise so thought I may as well see the flop and show my blind was not always going to be stolen ! Two others called and the flop came A-x-x all diamonds. I checked, then checked my cards and sure enough had the Kd All checked to the button who put in 100 raise, and having nut flush draw decided I could call, but everyone else folded. The turn was no help but had to call the 200 raise.... and the river was... no good either, so folded to the 500 bet. After that I had no cards and could relax for a few hands.

One of the players was seeing all the flops and calling down to the river or betting when checked to him (we'll call him "The Joker" as he had to be kidding most of the time). The hands he showed were rubbish starting hands, but was hitting his cards, and his frequent betting often took the pot uncontested so was building his chips nicely. In the first level I got a good hand and raised, with The Joker being the only caller. The flop was all diamonds (again!) but I had nothing When it was checked to me I bet out and surprisingly took the pot... so this put me back to starting chip count. A few hands later I flat called a minimum raise from The Joker when I was on the big blind with QT. Couple of other people called as well, and the flop gave me an up and down straight draw. I checked and The Joker bet a small amount so was getting odds to call, with the others folding. I checked again and The Joker bet out, but decided to call and hit my straight on the river... unfortunately there were also 3 clubs. I checked and The Joker bet out, so re-raised hoping he didn't go all in... but he just called and showed 2 pair.... phew, I had made a large amount of chips and was actually chip leader at this point.

A few hands later and The Joker decided to go all in on the flop when he had K-4 despite having missed completely and having no good draws. The caller of his recklessness had pocket A so he was the first one out (also giving me my first objective :-) )

It went pretty quiet after that with the remaining players all seeming to be pretty solid and mainly tight/aggressive. There was a Chinese chap who seemed to be a bit of a gambler, but even he was picking him moments and well capable of folding to a raise.

I continue my tight play but seemed my blinds were being attacked... unfortunately I was getting absolute rubbish on the blinds so had nothing I could defend with most of the time... I did manage to make a move on one of the chaps to my left when everyone folded to me on the SB, so raised with 8-3 o/s and nicked his blind, but it was tense times with 9 players still. My best starting hand early on was pocket 7's in late position, but the Chinese chap put in a raise to 1000 (blinds around 200 at this time) so decided to fold. Of course we saw a flop and it came 8-7-3 so would have taken a nice pot had I felt able to call.

My game continues to be steady with the occasional raise but the whole table was still tight/aggressive. As the blinds went up people started going out.... we saw AA get cracked by AJ when a 2nd jack hit the board taking a player out. The one lady player (who took out the Joker with AA) showed AA again to take a huge chip lead and cripple two other players chances. AA held up again against KK so the hand quality and play was definitely now of a high standard.

I had managed to maintain chips at around the average stack until we got down to 6 players when I started to slip behind, so tried to loosen up a little and be more aggressive. It was tricky to do, but managed to make a few more chips here and there.

Once the blinds went up to 1600/800 and I had around 10'000 in chips (still!) so time was running out for me... but luckily two more people went out in quick succession leaving 4 players (top three pay out - first place £1000, 2nd place £600 and third gets £400) The guy to my right had almost exactly the same chip count as me (around 8400 by now) I was pleased to see him go all in under the gun, so folded my rubbish. Unfortunately he took the blinds uncontested although he had to put in the BB now. I had almost persuaded myself to go all in this hand and JT looked tempting, but thought someone may have a go at his BB so decided to fold. Unfortunatley just the SB called and the flop came with two jacks ! The SB (Chinese chap) put in a bet but was re raised and he gave the pot to the guy on my right so I was now well down on chips and kicking myself for not going all in :-)

On my BB I looked down at A5 clubs, so decided to go all in..... despite the lady putting in a raise of another 3200 on top. She showed AK o/s and despite the flop coming down with 2 clubs, neither of us improved so I went out on the bubble ! At least it was only 9pm so could go home and have a few drinks now......

Overall I felt I played well and hadn't made any huge mistakes.... even in hindsight I feel I played the hands right, the only mistake I probably made was still going all in with the A5. I should have thought it through more and probably folded that hand, although it was a close decision as I had been raising her a lot when it was her big blind, and she had been raising my BB a fair amount as well.... but I would probably have done the same thing in the end as the blinds were about to go up as well

I had a good, exciting game and although I didn't go in hoping to finish 4th, do feel I had a good chance of winning and gave it my best shot. Worth £200 ? well, having had a good result on my last Casino trip to pay for half the entry fee, it was worth a go and have proved to myself that I am not a complete fish even in the bigger ponds :-)