Before the tournament, Mick had unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute, so ended up just the three of us playing for the final seat at the final table.
The first level saw pretty much every hand being raised by someone pre-flop so was a pretty brisk game to begin with. On one of the early hands, my 5-x on the small blind (SB) didn't look much , but I called when Sean just called and the flop gave me two more ! I had to check but no-one bet... the turn gave me another 5 for quads! I checked again and was pleased to see the A come on the river, especially when Darren bet out.....
Later on, my J-T looked pretty good on a A-J-x flop as Sean betting out didn't necessarily mean he had a hand :-) I was a little nervous but called down to the river and was pleased to see Sean with J-7 and I took a nice size pot.
With a reasonable stack I could let Darren and Sean battle it out for a few hands, but with only three players it was always going to be brisk....
A key hand came when I had K-2 suited on the BB and decided to call Sean's raise from the SB Darren also called and I was happy to see the 8-2-2 flop ! Sean bet out and I raised, but Darren went all-in with a total of around 2400 chips... prompting Sean to go all-in as well with 3025 in total I was in a quandary but couldn't work out what Darren had.... I considered various holdings but had to call really. Sean had K-K but Darren had A-2 ! Running A-A gave Darren the Full House, but at least I won the top half of the pot and Sean was out ! (in 45 min's !!)
Unfortunately Darren had 2:1 chip lead so was a tough proposition
By the break we were roughly equal in chips, but was tricky for either of us to win a lot of chips in any one hand so was a long slog
It was inevitable that there was going to be two good hands before the chips went all-in... sure enough on a un-raised flop by J-8 looked good for a shove all-in when the flop came J high..... but Darren called... with J-4 Unluckily for me , high cards came and we split the pot !
With the blinds going up to 500/300 and my stack staying stubbornly around the 4500 mark (to Darren's 7500) I had to start taking some risks, but a couple of bad calls and Darren getting more aggressive (probably with good hands) saw me down to around 3500 and needing to double up. Getting 4-4 on the button seemed like a good spot to go for it and Darren called with A-T The flop was blank but the turn saw the T come for Darren and it was all over....
Well done to Darren for a deserved victory, commiserations to Sean who at least went out with a bang (and a good hand!)
I'll see you at the final table, but probably only as Tournament Director !
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