I didn’t go out to deliberately bluff and bully this time, but with mostly tight players on my table and playing 4 handed (as Sean was late) it seemed rude not too 
I did manage to build up my stack a bit, but then when Sean turned up the dynamic changed a bit and my chips started to dribble back to starting stack.
Sean was doing his usual trick of having any two, Roger to my left was playing mostly passively and calling down a lot, with Jon and Derek taking occasional aggressive lines, it was quite an interesting table.
I made a few lunges at the pot and ended up dropping down to 1000 and rebuying, but then Sean decided to double me up with his 2-2 < my 7-7 and I could afford to drop down a gear and cruise for a while
After the break it all got a bit tighter. I ended up being first man all-in against Jon, but Jon found a fold. With Jon claiming to have a pocket pair, he was probably ahead although I would’ve been able to claim the £5 for first one out, as Karen didn’t make it this time.
As it turned out, Sean was soon after able to claim the first out bounty, meaning I had to play for the top three for the money now….
With Sean knocked out, Andy joined out table, although with only 600 chips which was just over the big blind. He was all-in on the BB the second hand, but with Derek raising and Roger calling, then a shove and call on the Kxx flop wasn’t looking good for Andy. It wasn’t looking good for Roger either, as Derek had K-K (second time he’d hit trip K tonight!) against Roger K-Q The turn brought another diamond, giving Andy chance to hit his flush, but the brick on the river saw Andy out and Roger now a short stack.
Couple of hands later and we see Steve W knocked out on the other table, followed swiftly by Roger on our table, giving us 7 players for the final table
I’m down to around 10 BB in the SB and it fold to me. My 5d-3s is good enough to shove Alex’s BB as we have similar stack sizes and take the pot. Next hand I limp my Qd-Jd and only Jock in the BB sees the Q-x-x flop with me. He leads out, but my shove sees me pick up some much needed chips.
With blinds going up to 1000/500 the short stacks are under pressure, so it’s no surprise to see a quick succession of knockouts, starting with Alex, then Jon has a bad beat with A-Q < Derek’s A-9 followed by my ill-timed shove from button with 9-5 < A-K of Jock in the SB
With 4 left and the blinds up again, Bill finally falls, despite his solid (and sober!) play to that point, leaving the three to battle for the top spots.
Darren is chasing his fourth victory of the season, but is short stacked. There is lots of folding to start with until the action explodes with Darren all-in against Derek. Darren doubles up and all players are on around average stacks
Into the last level and blinds are 4k, with 21k the average stack, so something has to give….. and it’s Darren that gives first… taking third place.
The heads-up starts quite cagey, but soon all the chips are in the middle, with Derek’s K-9 slightly ahead of Jock’s Q-T The flop gives all sorts of outs for both players, but the Q on the turn is the one that makes the difference and Jock takes another win!
Good game all, see you next time
) and my PLO8 game is also improving gradually, so hope to make up some of the heavy PLO losses. 
