Poker: Casino trip for staking

I’ll probably read this tomorrow and think “what the heck have I written…” as my brain is a bit mushy at the moment… still here goes…

We finally got it together and got Andy into the staked game.  It is still not ideal, as it is £50+5 for 6000 chips, then £5 for another 2500 chips, then maximum of 1 rebuy plus one add on (for 6000 chips each)    In our case, Andy stumped up the extra £5 himself anyways (as it is such good value) but obviously can only use one rebuy OR the add-on

In the end there are 58 players, all bar a couple of late arrivals with the full 8500 starting stack.   8 players will get paid.

I start out steady but am not getting anything playable anyway.  After a while, get 7-7 which looks huge compared to the cards I’ve been seeing, so decide to raise and get couple of callers.  The flop comes something like 8-6-4 so looks safe and I bet out…. getting one caller.   The turn comes 2 so shove all-in when checked to.  After thinking for a while I get called by 9-7 and manage to double up! 

Later on I get A-A and raise after UTG has limped.   Four for the flop which comes Qxx   UTG bets out and I re-raise to make sure only the two of us see the turn.   UTG checks to me and I ship all-in (about pot size bet) and after tanking for a while, UTG folds… muttering something about me having trips

I make it to the first break without the rebuy and decide not to take the add-on either, as have a healthy looking 24’000 with the average chips being around 18’000.   Andy didn’t take the rebuy, but needed the add-on to take him to 12’000 chips

Resuming after the break we are now playing in a freeze out, so no safety net!   I didn’t make any notes and have no clear recollections of any notable hands for this stage… so straight onto :-

Second break

I have 41’000 chips   Andy now has 34’500 mostly coming from winning with A-K against two players.  Average chips are around 25’000 with 24 players left running

The tables are breaking up as players drop out and I get moved to a new table.   Seems to be one aggressive villain on the table, who is raising a lot pre-flop.    On my BB (which is 2000 by now)  player to my left UTG raises to 6000 and aggro player shoves all-in for around 22k.   Looking down at my K-K I am pretty happy, but UTG has around 40k chips left, which is pretty similar to my stack.  My only choice is to shove, and UTG folds (8-8 he tells me after) and aggro player has A-Qh    The flop comes low but with 2 hearts.   The turn is safe enough, but the river comes another heart so am done on the river !

Couple of hands later, villain is UTG and raises, so I decide to shove my 5-5 on the button.   He calls and shows A-Ko but my5’s hold up and I’m back to just over what I started with (around 50k now)

I see Andy walking, he is out in around 22nd place.   According to his text, he ran his A-Q into A-A as his exit hand.

Third Break

Somehow I’ve got to 109’000 and am chip leader.   14 players are left and 50k is about the average stack.

Soon after resuming I raise with 7-7 in early position and see Q-7-x flop with one caller (George)   I see him lifting his chips so check and sure enough he shoves all-in and I call.   He shows Q-9s and sure enough hits his flush on the river ! leaving me around 53’000 chips

With the blinds going up, I have about 6 big blind stack size, so shove with Q-To from middle position.   Big blind insta-calls with A-Ko but I get a bit of luck for a change and a sole T on the turn doubles me up to around 110’000

It’s a tense time as we get towards the final table, but manage to get there.   We’re down to 9 players and I have around 110’000 chips (avg about 85k)

Final Table

I didn't get to make any notes at all at final table so this is all from memory !  

There are some short stacks, but everyone is shallow as blinds are up to 16’000 by now.

The table agrees that everyone will give £10 to whoever is out first (on the official money bubble) so £80 for 9th, £160 for 8th then around £210 for 7th.

The first hand on the final table has the shortest stack in the BB with 16’000 chips but he triples up.    Another 16’000 stack is on the BB soon, but she doubles up, so is anyone’s to take.  Eventually we start seeing players drop out and everyone is happy to see 9th and 8th places go quite quickly.

At around 3:15am with 7 players still very much battling, the manager suddenly turns round and tells us they are going to shut down the tournament in 20 mins and decide payout on chip stacks, this causes uproar as there is a lot of play still left.   I’m not particularly worried as I’m down to around 60k and the 20’000 blind is looming.

As play continues, I’m in the BB and a short stack shoves.  It folds to me, but its less than BB for me to call, so do so with A-x against his K-K   I get lucky (again) and hit my A so take out a player and have a more comfortable stack.    

With 6 left, I shove UTG with A-8 and get called by A-J    Lucky (again!) I hit my 8 take out another player!

Couple of hands later, lady in BB is almost all-in, then UTG shoves for a sizeable chunk of  chips.  My 8-8 could be good here and have chips behind if I loose, so shove and get in against BB with Q-8s plus UTG with A-K.   An A comes on the flop, but 8 hits the turn  (and make full house on river) and I take out two players in one, we are down to three players and I am big chip leader !!

We are under pressure from Casino to finish now.   One chap keeps asking to split the pot three ways equally, but that is daft idea by the chip counts.    In the end we play until 4am when the Casino is going to shut the cash desk (so they wouldn’t be paying us out!) and we have to end the game.   

I have 450k chips, 2nd player has 250k and 3rd player (George) has around 60k.    Despite being entitled to take the full £1900 for 1st  (£1000 for 2nd and £800 for 3rd) I decide to give away some value in a deal as the game was forcibly terminated, so ended up with me taking £1500  (also didn’t want to upset the “regs” as will doubtless want to play there again soon!)

In the end, got to bed around 5am – buzzing and happy….. not sure if I slept at all when Lynn starts wriggling and mentioning breakfast at 8am…!!

From the CamberleyBoyz perspective, it was a shame Andy didn’t cash as well (you can thank Bill for knocking me out the Satellite Game ) but Andy did a good job as it was a tough game   You really need that little bit of luck to do well in a tourney, just wasn’t Andy’s night.   I think it was quite a good idea doign the satalitte and will get your feedback whether it is something we want to do in future.

It was a shame the tournament didn’t go the a proper conclusion, but whichever way you look at it,  for me personally, the night was a huge triumph.  It also opens up all sorts of exciting possibilities (Might fancy a trip to Brighton in July )   so am tired but happy this morning.