Poker says "thankyou"
Played the Luton £25 re-buy last night.1000 starting chips.Things started promisingly enough, I get AK’s 2nd hand and move em all in. I get called by pocket nines (I raised and though I had a bigger Ace). No help and a cry of "chips please" from my corner.
1 orbit later I get the bullets. I raise small UTG, player to my left puts me all-in and I have the enviable task of calling with aces. No miracles and im doubled up. Very next hand I limp UTG with AQ. Loose/Aggressive player raises large and I think im ahead and go all-in. He calls with K10, hits a K on the flop and im down to 800. A few hands later I get KK UTG and opt to limp/ re-raise when someone bets….which sure enough they do. 4 way pot and my boys hold up against 66, 10,10 and AQ to earn me a few. I go card dead for a bit and finish the re-buy period with 2800 after the add-on.
I get AQ 1st hand in and go all-in from the BB when I sense a little weakness in a late position 5*BB raise. He folds. I get Moved. And Again. 3rd Table I get dealt JJ in the BB. A small raise round the back and I think im good. I slide in and sadly he has KQ so its race time. I win and double up to roughly 7k.
KEY HAND. Folded round to me in the SB with Ac9h. I complete. He checks. I know very little about this player (50+ years, smartly dressed, regular by the looks of things). Flop comes 10,9,3 all clubs. I bet ½ pot. He raises 3*. I look,think…and decide to call. 4h on turn. I check and he says "raise, 1500 and 4k". Not allowed, 1500 is the raise. I call. 10s on the river. Pot is now fa\irly huge, but im not committed. I check. He thinks and goes all-in. I think and think and think. I think he is BB so could have flopped 2 pair and wanted to scare off the flush draw. I don’t see why he bets all-in if he has trips or a boat. Things look better. ?He could have a small flush…
Shit he could have a small flush. BUT he knows that I have something and that river could have filled me up. I look at him. He looks anxious. Fuck. If I call, im dead. But my brain says this guy is squirming. I think the 10 on the river counterfeits his possible 2 pair on the flop, as iv ruled out a full house. I listen to my gut and call. I show the 9 and he folds…..i never got to see his cards as he mucked, but in retrospect I WISH I had asked to see them. After all, I called him. That hand set me up and was the hardest call iv ever had to make. Brain and gut often disagree on the correct decision ;)
From there I stole a few, had a few nice hands and built my stack. I had a huge amount of respect shown to me. A strong player folded KQo 6 handed when I was the button. So I showed him the AQ to make him feel good.
Very next hand I stole with J7s.
Got to final table miraculously and played tight. To my amazement all the big stacks started fighting and soon there were 6. I then saw this hand. Player (huge stack) in EP raises small. BB calls. Flop comes A,7,J. BB checks, EP raises ½ pot. BB calls. Turn, 6. BB checks, EP raises the same amount. BB calls. River, A. BB thinks, and then goes all-in with Trip aces 9 kicker and gets called by a full house held by EP, sixes full of Aces.
I keep plugging away but im getting a shocking run of cards. E get down to 4, then down to 3. Im now seriously short stacked and start to have fun. I tell the guys it’s the 1st time iv ever played live and can I press the "sit out" button. No laughs, these guys want to knock me out. I recover slightly when im forced to go all-in with Q,10o and hit trip 10’s.
A little later I find K9c in the BB and raise all-in to get called by 7,2 o in the SB. A 7 on the river hurts, but its all over.
£580.
Im chuffed. I really feel that this is a deserved result for the amount of time and energy iv dedicated to poker. All those hours reading strategies and playing with the lads came to fruition and im positive about my game. No fireworks yet but for me this is a HUGE result.
TIP of the day. DONT GIVE FREE CARDS WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE POSITION. Ask the guy who walked into a set of sixes on the turn.