Well ... it was deffo a case of shit or bust, but here's the script.
Got a lovely starting table, Alex Martin BB to my SB, Graham rodgers on button to my BB, Tom Myland and various others.
first 3 levels saw me hover around starting stack, nothing fancy tbh, just playing ABC and never really had any hands, Then last hand before the first break and blinds at 100/200, and Its Tom Mylands BB, There is the usual last hand bluster about "No need to nick the blinds, you dont want to bust right on the break" etc etc ...
anyway, as it happens i look down at
, there are already 3 limpers when the action reaches me, I delib over raise to 2000 from my 6.5k stack and get the inevitable "Thief" comments from all over the place ... goes round to Tom Myland who moves all in (he has me covered by about 4k) passed back round to me ... no decision, insta call ! He has
and doesnt hit his 2 outs and im on 15k at the break with averages at 11k
Back after the break and after a while tables are broken and we get new players at the table, One guy was pretty short stacked, maybe had 4k ... but he raised half his stack , and when the action reached me I have
, I re raised enough to put him in ... he has
and spikes to dent me.
I also get the pleasure of finishing off Tom Myland when I shoved on his BB with AQ and he called for his comp with AJ ..... which was nice
Blinds are now 200/400 and its my BB, all fold round to Graham Rodgers on the button who flats, sb makes up, I look down at
. Obvious raise and I pop it up to 1800 from my stack of 11,800 ... Graham dwells a goodly while from the button and then asks me how much I have back ... he eventually bets enough to give me a decision for my tourny life and the SB mucks ... Now here is my thought process on my actions, I asked myself what kind of hand has he got that he would flat call on the button with, yet shove to a raise ?? I eventually figured that he must have AK, AQ, or a small pair, I really couldnt see him limping the button with a pair that was beating me tbh ... so after a fair enough dwell I made the call, he flipped
and I prayed that I would hold and be sitting with a 24k stack with the ave at 14k ..
Flop comes
... then the dreaded
hits on the turn and im toast, I was a bit gutted tbh, if I had won that race I would have been in a handy position to get a good finish, Alex and a few others said it was a very borderline call from me (they know Graham and his game, I dont) but tbh once I am putting him on a hand and I can get my chips in good then I am going to make the call every time.
Had a great time though, was a good table for banter with Alex on form and plenty of friendly faces around.
Was a case of what could have been unfortunately, glad to see Graham got second and used my chips wisely.
Thanks to my backers, close but no cigar im afraid