blonde poker

For the third month in a row, after exiting the Walsall £300 Freezeout prematurely, Grantham Greek Girl Chili got me on the blower and asked if I would play the £50 at Notts. No way, no way, no way, I answered each time, but each time I found myself playing the comp, damn the girl. And the score so far, 3 Finals from 3, 7th, 2nd, & 2nd. The Heads-Up game continues to impress.....

Arrival at 2 minutes to 9 still allowed time to be the 53rd & last to Register (how the numbers have fallen at Notts!), join Chili for a drink in the bar, and get an ear-bashing from Ash Abdullah for daring to suggest on the Forum that Ash is in charge at Notts. I am happy to withdraw the unfounded slur. He's only second-in-command. Actually, it was an interesting debate, but that's another story. The numbers have plumbed new depths though, so I rest my case.
 
You can't play ABC poker in these £50 rebuy things, you just can't. Waiting for your Aces to come is just daft, as you are gonna get 7 callers, so some ducking and diving is in order.

My opening table included Bouncer Kev, so 'pleasantries' fell thick and fast. He has a lovely way with words.

It's a 2k starting stack, with rebuys if 1,000 or less. An early misunderstanding left me at around 1,100, so I entered a pot with the sole intention of dropping 100 chips and thus qualifying for a rebuy. 7 callers, I'm on the button, all check to me, so I bet 50. 7 flat callers flat call. Turn, they all check, I bet another 50 - job done, I'm down to 1,000, they all call. Turn brings a 3rd Diamond, they all check, I bet 300, they all pass. Easy game this, as I survey my 5-3 of spades.

Next I make a speculative button raise with QQ - well, Q-3 off actually - I make it 500, and get FIVE callers, after they'd all limped. Hmm, big pot this. Flop was 2-3-4, they all check - actually, my 3 could be good, so I bet 1,000 - THREE of them call.....The turn was another 3, all check to me, I go all-in for my remaining stack, they ALL call. I fill up on the river, on their backs, assorted growls and scowls as an 8k pot is pushed my way. This is bingo, not poker.

Up to 8k, Justin arrives on my table. GOOD player, way above the average Notts quality. Buthe and I always go to war - if he's in a pot, so am I, and vice versa. I raise it up on his big blind with 6-4 off, he can't resist re-popping it, he wants me one to one, I call, I know I can get him off his hand. All going to plan. The flop is 8-4-3 - he bets out - well, do you REALLY think he has any of that? Course not. I reraise, all the chips go in, and my 6-4 prevails against his AJ, and we are in business.

A smooth ride from there on in to the final, but the blinds get huge, lose a pot &andyou are in trouble, and Chili and I both found ourselves finalling with 13,500 (average 33,000) and occupying adjacent seats, causing some comment from Assistant Manager Ash.  

I decide to move early, and raise 5 of the first 6 pots, remarkably getting every single one through unchallenged, so even with with blinds now at 2k-4k, I'm more comfy now, but Chili is still in poo street.

But then I try it on once too often, get caught by a resurgent Chili, and I'm crippled, down to 4k. She got well lucky, her K-3 sucking out on my T-2 on a K-T-4 flop. Down to 4k - one big blind!

I manage a complete orbit of passes, my big blind arrives, all-in, amazingly, they ALL pass to the small blind (WHAT?), and he declines to give me a walk. There's a thing. I'm blind, but I flip over AK suited, lovely, I double up, but still only 8k, and I have to Post my small blind to Chili's big now. Bizarrely, everyone passes again, so I make it 4k with 4k all-in and Chili is obliged to call blind. I turn over K-5 - hmm, not bad - and Chili turns over her....AK! Damn. First card is the 5, 16k now.

My luck continues, and I run my 4k up to 64k, but with blinds at 4k-8k I overplay my pocket sixes by making it 25k to go, Luigi goes all-in for 20k more, and deep-stacked Sean calls, oh dear, I'm obliged to call the extra 20k, and we have a 135k Pot. My 6-6 is up against Luigi's AJ and Sean's KQ! An all rag board safely propels me to chip daddy, and there is some cursing going off now.

The field thins, and then Sean and I have a little tiff. He made the final as chip leader courtsey of a remarkable pot where SIX players were all-in! Looking for a gutshot straight he faced two sets of trips, 2 pair twice and two flush draws. Somehow - the miracle of cards - they all missed, and he caught his gutshot to a chorus of oohs and aahs.

Sean is still big chip now, but he puts the clock on me - he's not in the pot - on the grounds that, "you always give it a dwell up when the blinds are about to go up". What? WHAand? I like the lad, he's actually one of THE most honest guys you'd wish to meet, but that was just ridiculous, & I tell him so, vowing under my breath to bust him, which I later did.

But the dwell up was a difficult situation for me. With blinds at 4k-8k, I faced a reraise from a rock, I'm holding TT, &andthere are 6 of us left, 3 of them shorties. This IS tricky. Lose this, and I'm out, if I raise again, Mr Rock is obliged to call, and my whole tourney is on the line, step aside and I'm almost guaranteed a 4 figure payday. 'Better situation', Mickey Werrnick's advice, prevails, and I eventually decline to play, mucking my TT with mixed feelings, until Mr Rock flashes his KK.....! It's good to be weak sometimes!

Karma takes care of Sean shortly after, though we'd kissed and made up by then, after he'd apologised, and I soon find myself heads-up against the wonderfully behaved Adrian Bartlam.

We battled Heads-Up for just short of an hour, blinds finishing at 10k-20k (328,000 chips in play), and I don't really need to tell you how I fared Heads-Up, now do I?  

Good fun, & £1,640 in the fighting fund. I blame that damn Chili.