Poker: Home Tourney–March 2011

It was a great turnout for the first £10 “special” of this year, with 14 players vying for the coveted final table seats.

My table started out quite passive, but was soon involved in a big pot with Daniel.  Sadly I was bluffing every street and Daniel found an easy call on the river, having hit his A on the flop, so I am already down to around 1200 chips in the first level !

Lucky for me, after I won a couple of small pots,  it wasn’t too long before Andy (to my immediate right) come to the rescue and makes a dodgy call to double me up getting me more or less back to my starting stack.. phew!

In another big pot, Jock makes a cheeky raise into me on a dangerous looking turn.  With Andy all-in and my chips looking perilous I decided to fold, so Jock won a few chips in the second pot with nothing (A-6o) which I had beat.. but Andy took the main pot and tripled up.

After that things quietened down a bit and got to the break a little above average chips.

Not much happens for me for a while…. mainly folding, but find occasional spots to attack the pot and take a couple of small pots

In another confrontation with Jock, I decide to go for it this time, but this time he has a decent hand and decimates my stack… ho hum, Jock you are a difficult man to read !

Luckily for me, Andy comes to my rescue again and makes a dodgy raise and all-in call with nothing but a middle pin str8 draw on an all clubs flop.   I’m way ahead with pair 3’s and flush draw !!  The Q comes on the river, but lucky for me makes my flush, so Andy is out !   This gives us out final table and I am a slight chip lead with around 17’000 chips

The blinds have just gone to 1000/500 so am happy to be in late position.

The first hand of the final table, Bill limps and all folds round to me.   I think about raising, but decide to be solid and fold my A-5s   The 5 on the flop doesn’t change my opinion of my hand, but another 5 on the turn is a bit galling… especially as Bill takes a punt at the pot with his A-4o and I would have won a decent pot.  

That was about my best hand of the final table, and just found no good spots to make a move and got no hands.    Sean took out Karen, who started up the cash table (being a degen gambler )  although it was only a couple of hands later when Sean had huge re-raise which Bill decided to call with A-7o but was actually ahead of Sean.   Neither improved and Sean was out and straight into the cash game!

The blinds have gone to 4’000 and I’ve got around 12’000 and am looking for a good spot to shove, but with no cards, find myself in BB shoving my K-Qd after Bill has limped the button.  Of course Bill calls with his A-8o and despite me picking up a str8 draw, don’t improve and am down to 1200 chips ! 

My all-in SB against Roger gives false hope, as I double up, but get no cards and am soon shoving UTG with T-9 or something and of course Bill has A-x and ends up with a Full House so am out in 5th place

In the final few hands, Bill somehow manages to call off a load of chips to Jock, then fold to his all-in on the River, before then being taken out by Roger (why can Bill never find a fold against me ? )

Jon is short stacked and although the result is already determined, play out the final hand with Roger’s 9-3 beating Jon’s 7-2

Jock wins on chip count, but was actually pretty close in the end to Roger’s stack  (around 44k to 40k) but a win that was well deserved

I was a little disappointed with my own result, but overall felt I played pretty well.   In any case it was a lot of fun (as normal) and with my previous finishes being 10th and 7th, at least I am moving in the right direction

The standard of play at our game is definitely improving and is always an interesting mix of styles to keep everyone on their toes.   It’s just a shame the club shuts at 11pm as it would be fascinating to play to a proper conclusion, which we rarely see.

So, well done to all and hope you all enjoyed it as much as me.  (from all the frivolity it seemed like fun was being had )

See you next time…..