Poker: Black Belt Poker League

 
I decided to have a go at the Black Belt Poker (BBP) League this time round.  This "season" (Season IV) is 7 games and the top ten get points. (Editor correction) with all players getting points in reverse of the number of players who entered (1st player out gets 1 point, and so on..).    At the end of the season there are prizes for the players top of the league table

It runs on a Tuesday night at 7:30pm and is only $5 to enter (which is spot on for me!)

Last night was leg 1 of 7 and had 71 players.  

I had a bit of a roller coaster ride, although was mainly upwards :-)

Hand 1 : Dealt QQ in mid position, made standard raise and got reraised all-in.   Decided to call and doubled against JJ

Then got moved to another table where I recognised three other players as fellow graders, so this table may be pretty tough !  First hand on this table got dealt KK so made standard raise.  This time everyone folded

Next hand I folded K2 which is fair enough, but the flop came K72 !   Maybe I should play every hand !!

Later in the session I raised AK after one limper  Everyone folded to the limper who then reraised all-in.   After my timer got down to the last second, I decided to call and was very relieved to see he had AQo so took another big pot and was chip leader.  In fact I ended up being in the top 5 pretty much throughout the game which was pretty pleasing as it allowed me to be my natural bullying self :-)

I did get lucky on occasions.... for example had ATo on SB  Player raised from late position after everyone else folded.  I decided he was having a go at the blinds so reraised but had to call his all-in re-raise   He showed AKs and was in trouble on KJ9 flop but then Q came on turn to give me the str8 and another big pot !

At the 1st break, I am 2nd of 43 players with 7515 chips (average 2476)

It wasn't all luck for me though, a tight player raised UTG and decided to re-raise with AKo  He reraised all-in but I was willing to go with it   Unfortunately he showed KK and I was down to 6330 (av 3042) 3rd from 35

More good fortune when had A9o in SB against a short stack who had raised... decided to raise and he showed ATo  But I hit 9 on flop and took him out !

2nd break I am 5th of 15 players and 10550 chips with avg 7100

1st hand get TT and to my dismay table chip leader bets out.  I re-raise get called.  Not pleased to see J32 flop but when checked to, have to bet all-in and am happy to take down the pot, giving me chip lead again (14800) !!

Final table - 1st with 18550 chips, avg 10650

aggressive player pushed from button with K9o and I called with QQ in the SB   He hit K on turn which was gutting and am now down to 5th place with 11542 chips (avg 10650)

Went a bit card dead and took a risk one to many times, committing myself BvB with T6 in SB against AT so lost that.   Got a bit lucky going all-in when desperate with K4 against JJ and pushed with 88 next hand to build up my stack.   In the end button raised JJ against my BB so pushed with 77 and didn't get lucky so out in 7th place and took $17.75 prize money

Phew, what a game.   OK I was a bit fortunate at times but in the main had a good reason for my various plays.   The early double up really made my game, allowing me to relax into it and pick favourable spots on my own terms which really helped my result.   The standard of play was very high for a $5 game and there was plenty of table banter for additional interest.... even Neil Channing joining in the chat on the final table !   

The ongoing league positions can be tracked at http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/groups/league/