blonde poker forum

So I have won a seat to the WPT500, Aspers London, and will be playing the day one tomorrow.

It’s quite rare for me to play a tournie of this size (I play live only in the £30-100 range, and fairly irregularly).

I imagine there will be a smattering of high level players within the field, and the standard to be higher than I’m used to, so would appreciate any advice on how you would approach.

Tight is right early doors? 6-bet the online wizard when at all possible? All-in blind every third hand?

Thoughts are welcome ☺️

Just go and enjoy yourself

Absolutely enjoy it and play how you normally would, updates are more than welcome if you want to add something a bit different. Goodluck.

All-in blind every third hand?

I tend to find every fourth hand is better  :D


As said , play as you normally would and enjoy!

 ;goodluck;

They have a shot clock on these tourneys so you'll only get 30 seconds to act for each decision. You'll get two time chips that give another 60 seconds each. These are replenished if you make it through to the next day, but you do not keep any unused ones on top.  If someone is allin you can ask for a count and the dealer will stop the countdown while counting down their stack. Be VERY CAREFUL as people have exposed their hands after thinking they have been called, but it was just a time chip being slung in.

These tourneys have plenty of recreational players in, and are frequented by some very 'interesting' characters, and if they get on your table you will have a great opportunity to build a huge stack. I will PM you about these.

The lower table number you get, the longer you will be on there before it is broken, as they break from the tables nearest the cash area and then across towards the toilet exits. So don't sit there trying to build a right image if you'll be broken soon-get busy bluffing until you get exposed! So if you're on table 1 you will not get broken.

Hey guys, thanks for the messages - especially the info and PM dropthehammer!

As it turned out, no shot clock, and neither of the players you mentioned played - tho I’ll remember for next time!

So, I tried noting down a few hands as I played through, and will upload shortly. The structure was 15k starting stack at 25-50, 30 minutes for first eight levels I think, then increasing to 40 mins - a lot of play, as confirmed by it finishing around 3am after a 1pm start (first clue we had a deep run ☺️)


There were 70 entries including rebuys, with top 4 getting a seat to day two and guaranteed a min.  £1,065 - fifth to eight also paid £888, £710, £535 and £535 respectively. Broadly, 5% make day two and 12% min-cash... on this day one, 4 of the 70 being deemed as the top 5%. The day one continues until 5% are left, which means that with multiple day ones, different days will finish on different clock levels. The clock for day two is based on which day one finished earliest, starting from the beginning of the next level.

Players can also play multiples day ones, take through their biggest stack and then sacrifice the others - in that circumstances they are paid out early on the minimum £1,065 per sacrificed stack.

So, an early hand of note, and never was a big blind special more welcome! I’d started fairly quickly, upto 20k first hand, then dribbled back down to around 14k - the fog in my head from the night befores hangover was not helping, and I was kinda annoyed with myself for turning up with the DT’s!

A mixture of water + straight back on it would eventually sort me out 🍺

So, I look down at 9-3 offsuit, everyone limps round (opening table was really poor btw, which I was surprised by - super passive / sticky / old school stations etc.). Blinds were 100-200 I think, and maybe six in the pot

Board:

 9h  9s   3s

Err, check....

A bet of 450 by the chap to my immediate left - call, call, I call...

Turn  7s

I check, bet of 800, one call, I call

River  Ts

The triple check from me, bet of 2,000, second player tanks for a while and calls, I go all in for around 12,000


Gentleman next to me goes into the tank, had shown some ego in earlier hands (turned over the 8-4 bluff in a big pot) and seemed the type for dubious hero calls

Eventually CALLS - other chap folds, I turn my 9-3 over and the shocked fella shows  Js Ad

His reasoning was ‘I thought you’d flopped a small flush and turned your hand into a bluff’

Minimum calling hand in that spot? I thought  Aspades - how can I not ‘have it’, right?

After that upto, 35k, and stayed around 1.5 average for the first few hours...

A fairly definitive hand for my tourney played out as follows (warning - my memory of blinds / stacks / exact flops are a little hazy ☺️):

I have around 40k, guy to my immediate left has me covered, the young online fella to my immediate right was short with around 8,000. Blinds 300-600 with antes. I’m in B.B. and have  Ac Qc... under the gun limps, follows by another three or four calls. Young fella goes all in. I reshove all in, UTG then stands up, a complete look of anguish, and after a few moments goes ALL IN

Fold, fold, etc, turn them over - UTG has  Kd  Kh !

Flop  9c  5d 3c

Turn  7h

River.....  Jc

BOOM

Upto over 90,000, average was maybe 35,000 😄

A few hours of my stack yo-yo’ing played out, until we got down to the bubble, 11 across two tables, final table being 10-handed. I’d lost a bit and had maybe 82,000. Then this hand I was not involved in happens, blind on blind:

Blinds around 800-1,600 - small blind has around 190,000, big blind around 180,000 - huge stacks:

Limp, raise to around 4,000 - SB calls

Flop  5c  3s Js

Bet 6,000, call

Turn  9s

SB Checks - Bet 20,000, SB goes ALL IN - CALL!

SB -  Ts 4s
BB -  9h 9d

So a turned set for the B.B. 😮

River, a blank, and SB’s flush holds...

I’m interested to know what people’s thoughts are on this. I instinctively thought it was a fold with the turned set, as I believe his odds of pairing up are around 25% / slightly below, and surely the SB can only have a flush (for the record, SB was an older gentleman who was relatively nitty throughout, B.B. another young online player type who’d played really well up until this hand). Of course the SB could have two pair / smaller sets and he’s have the world in chips, but the SB didn’t seem the type who’d go all in with anything below a flush.

Updates on Final Table shortly (need some lunch ☺️)

So, final table starts around 10pm, with blinds 1,200 - 2,400, if I recall correctly. Ten handed, average stack is 100k. 8 cashed, and so what unfolded was a very long FT, where all-in short stacks held up more often than not. I was fairly card dead for a couple of hours and dribbled down to around 60-65k, feeling handcuffed for long periods.

An interesting early hand involved an UTG limp, a few calls, then a lead from the B.B. on this flop.

 Td  8h  2s

Blinds were maybe 1,500-3,000

B.B. checks, UTG bets out around 12,000 with 25,000 or so in the pot, playing 100,000.

B.B., playing a similar stack, goes all in when folded round to him. He was an unpredictable type and had made the same move, massively overpotting, a couple of times previously. B.B. tanks for 5 minutes or more and eventually shows  Qh Qc!

As he was considering call the B.B. starts talking lots ‘I’ll show my hand, you’ll see it whether you call or fold’ etc.

B.B. had  Ac  Td and the poor Queens fella proceeds to receive torrents of ‘how can you fold?!?’ - it becomes too much for him, and he walks off for fifteen minutes or so .... 🤒

He would go on to finish 10th, and no doubt rue forgetting he’d massively disguised his hand with the limp, although I sense the min cash meant a lot to him.

For me, the FT was a real grind, constantly last or second last in chips, and picking any spots I could to make chips/try not to wither away with the now high antes in play.

Down to around 45k 8-handed, I shove  Ad  7h when it folds round to my Button I at maybe 2,500-5,000 BB, and get called by the B.B. with  Aspades 9d.

Board runs out  7c x x x x and we survive for a crucial lucky double up.

I hover around the 80,000 to 120,000 chip region for a good while, until the bubble bursts when flopped top pair gets it in against flopped two pair, and with that a min cash secured.

A couple more proceed to bust out, and suddenly we’re five handed on the day two seat bubble.

The average is around 200,000, and by that point I had maybe 80,000, very much rooted in fifth - the other four clearly hoping one of them sweeps me up and out shortly!

At (I think) 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes, it folds round to me on the button playing 85,000 or so and I shove  Ac 2c ...

The same B.B. calls, this time with  Aspades 9s, and the board rounds out a glorious  2h x x x x 🤣

From there I hovered around 150,000 until I look down at  Jc Jd:

I raise to 25,000 at 8,000 BB playing 145,000. I considered shoving pre, but thought the hand too strong to just pick up the blinds (possibly bad/asking for trouble - thoughts?)


The B.B., who had so far shown a ‘play any two cards’ approach, calls....

Flop:

 Qd 2c 2s

B.B. donks 25,000, I shove, CALL

Turns over the Q-7 offsuit 😢

.....

TURN.  6d

RIVER Jh

BOOM 🤣

The B.B. was left short, and quickly went out a hand or two later, the seat to day two secured 😃

I finished with 309,000 of 1,050,000, chip leader in the flight by 1,000.

Hopefully the day 2 clock will not be as high as the 6,000-12,000 level we got to - the final table alone lasted five hours (through to 3am), and so I  suspect ours one of the longer, if not longest, flights.

If anyone want me to provide updates next week, let me know - alternatively, if you think I should retire from hurting your eyes with this drivel, feel free to say! ☺️

well done

same as you with a 500 buy in being a big tournament for me

you must feel on top of the world

not going to comment on the hands, will leave that to people that are more competent than me, 99% of this forum...

good luck in day 2 , when is it?

and keep the updates going please

Thanks - day two is 1pm, Easter Sunday

As you can see, clearly I rode my luck, the last hand is obviously a ridiculous run out, but I felt I played well for the most part - particularly early on when I dominated a table / could sense players didn’t want to get involved for an hour or two when six or seven handed. I was patient enough not to panic when flitting between 1/3 and 1/2 average stack at the FT, picking the right spots etc., so am generally happy with how I played.

The nice thing is day 2 becomes a complete free roll at bigger prizes, and I guess it’s as simple as ‘keep playing your game’ and don’t get distracted by the bigger players or prizes.

Enjiyed the updates. Good luck for next week. Same again please.

Yes definitely more of the same please.

Well done so far and good luck for day 2

Well done, good luck next week!

Enjoyed the Updates, & good luck next week.

Definately more updates for Day2.

Good Luck

Geo

and more drinking updates too!!

Shots, and updates :)

Best of luck!

Will do, and will 🍺 too 🤣

Anyone else playing this, or through already? Great comp, but Aspers stratford can be awfully miserable (some of the dealers, eesh...), and a man’s only friend should never be his 🍺  ☺️

Haha, good stuff!

I'm saving my units for the bowl comp in Pompey on Sunday/Monday.

My only pre Vegas puntathon, which will probably see me sat at the bar by level 4 ;D

Good to see a trip update with some hands to ponder. You don’t sound out of your depth at all and should still have a good crack on Sunday, especially if you keep binking those kickers!

Ha, thanks - got to get em in to win, right?

Would be interested to know thoughts on bet sizing on the Jacks hand? Ante was 1,000, six handed, so 18k in the middle pre. I have 17-18 BBs, and the B.B. in question has previously been outspoken about ‘not taking on his B.B.’. Also donk led several times after calls when heads up, and folded more often than not. When he donks, thoughts on my all in?

I’m happy to be criticised if misplayed etc, otherwise how does one learn....

To add to the above, the SB was a good player (I researched after, Charles Akadiri), so my raise size was in part determined by not wanting him in the pot, given he was the big stack at the time.

Good luck and keep the updates coming. Reading these makes me want to come out of tournie retirement.

Your raising size pre with the JJ hand should depend on the table dynamic really. For example, i don't agree with just raising the same amount if the whole table will call. 25k on an 8k BB is on the large size, but the BB still called with junk!

I think the BB should have check/raised allin rather than donk lead out. Donk leads out are almost always weak, especially when stacks are this short. So I like your shove. He's never got a 2 here and it's actually quite a hard call with a weak queen, especially if it will knock him out or cripple him.

Thanks for posting the updates and best of luck when you go back. I tried to qualify for this one online but no joy. Love the tournies where you turn up after already making the money.

FYP

Good luck at the weekend.  Pleased you are doing so well.

Don't dwell on the JJ hand.  It might not have been best, but it is hard to get away from, and everyone messes up the odd hand.

Good luck

Does anyone who has played this know what the earliest finishing day 1 has been so far? The day 2 level is based on that, so would be interesting to find out 🙂

So, we made the FT folks.... 😃

2.45m, 20 bigs - average around 3m - locked up 11.3k

Will do hand updates maybe later, or tomorrow for sure.

Absolutely hanging too 🍻 🤣🤣

gogogo Dwayne!

good luck sir

Wow, great stuff! Best of luck later on. Have you got some mates to watch the live stream for you, to relay hand info?

I'll certainly be anti-railing the chip leader, played with him a few times and he is one of those really egotistical and rude players who berrates others at the table, ruining a fun atmosphere. Particularly if he thinks they've played poorly. So don't let that get to you if he starts chirping up!

Someone's been eliminated in 10th place; a guy who won one of those stadium Grand Prix tournaments.

any updates around? GL!!!!

He's doubled up getting max value from JJ v AJ! Second in chips.

 live stream here: https://goo.gl/y1EpXA

best of luck from a small french village

Best of luck, Dwayne!!

good luck

Wow you must be buzzing.

Best of luck, hope you win it all  :)up

He is 2/3 at the moment approx $70k for 3rd

Wow, amazing stuff, good luck Dwayne.

Pretends to ask for advice, ends up giving a lesson.

Incredible. Well done.

🤣

Thanks all, incredible couple of days, I’ll do a write up tomorrow but for now it’s 💤....

Final hand thoughts? I’m happy with the jam.... 😑

What a story!

Well done, Dwayne.

WSOP next?

well done fella

This

Well done, did you win? Top 3 anyway is massive. So cool.

Massive congrats mate, great effort

Great run Dwayne, well done! Looking forward to reading your write-up...what are you going to spend the dosh on?

Nice one fella

Rest!

Fantastic stuff, well done.

Day Two

So we come back to day two with 309k, blinds 2.5-5k, and receive the immediate good news that the guarantee wasn’t hit and the min cash has gone upto £1,500 odd...

92 return, with an immediate pay jump to around £1,790 after one player goes. Which brings me to this hand...

I can’t recall the action in full, but the board was along lines of :

 2h 7c Tc Jh Kh

I’m not involved in hand, but found it interesting as it was on the immediate pay jump bubble - the big stack secured an early double and was opening up a fair bit. Fella to my immediate left came in with around 180k.

Big stack raises, call; flop - bets, call; turn - bet- call ; river - check - ALL IN

Big stack tanks and calls with K-Q, no hearts

Smaller stack shows  Ahrt Jc

Thoughts?

My immediate thinking was, easy check behind, SOOOOO much showdown value and at the same time the King smashed the raiser’s range. He didn’t have that much behind relative to pot either, maybe 60-65%

He did have the  Ahrt, which I get, but also think a lot of players over-consider - rightly or wrongly, the raiser isn’t folding a king ...


So, immediately upto £1,800 ish, nice! ....

I played ‘relatively solid’ (I believe this was a later comment made on the WPT final table updates, backhanded compliment..,. ☺️), and then thisnhand happens at 4-8k:

I have  7d 7h

Big stack who took out Mr Ace-Jack opens to 17k from cut off, call, button raises to 47k. Button had opened lots, c-bet lots, I have 200k and just feels a dream spot to go all in.

So I, go ALL IN, naturally..,


Fold, fold..,, button tanks....CALL

Turns over  Ad Th

He kept referring to the chips in the middle and how it was a perfect spot for me to jam, but he’s playing maybe 350k and I’ve barely played a hand. I’m folding in his spot - thoughts?

 C5 6d 9h blank  8s

Upto 467k, average was around 350k 😃

More updates to follow, about to board a ✈️

day 2 - continued

Before more hand updates, I’ll share some interesting background:

- when I was young, foolish, and wanted ‘the lot’ too soon, I racked up a lot of debt playing online at stakes beyond my bankroll and ability. An example of my folly was buying into a 25-50 Euro big blind game with 5,000 Euros, pretty much my entire bankroll, to see if I could spin up. I played for twenty minutes, and soon realised that ever single open was being three-bet, so of course I defaulted to a open/four-bet strategy! 🤣 Remarkably, it worked four or five times without a five bet, and I span upto 6,800 Euros before snap closing table - shaking from the adrenaline and madness of it all. It is literally a completely different game at those stakes. With such a sound bankroll strategy,  you can imagine it wasn’t long before I’d exhausted all lines of monies.... this led to me self-excluding from online accounts and veering away from online poker, primarily restricting myself to the occasional small-medium range, live tournament. One of the closed online accounts was 888, who sponsored the WPT500, and so before setting off to play the £30 satellite I emailed then to check if I could play as ‘I didn’t want to encounter any issues should I be lucky enough to cash’ 🤣. Fortunately, they came back really quickly, and so I set off to Stratford - if it’d been another hour I’d have missed the satellite and that would have been that!

- I only played as my partner happened to be away for the week, and I was home alone, bored - any other week and I don’t play, life is weird 🤨

- throughout day 1, day 2 and the FT I sat next to Getnet (eventual runner up) aside from maybe two hours on day 2 - he was always on my right, raising like a machine for the whole tournament - this definitely worked in my favour as I can recall several spots where I would have opened and got myself into potentially tournament ending spots.... I was happy to let him pick up lots of small pots and pick my battles with weaker spots, 3-betting him with premiums / calling certain ranges in the B.B.

- Getnet has a silent ‘t’, but I pronounced it Get Net.... he didn’t correct me once, despite playing together for thirty hours or so ☺️

- Our day 1 FT also had Charles Akadiri, who I commented played really well on the opening page, with Charles, Getnet and I qualifying in first, second and third position from our day 1. I think there were maybe 17 day ones, and us three would go on to finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the tournament - what are the odds, eh!

I'm intrigued and I'm sure I'm not the only person - which 't' is silent in Getnet? or is it both?

PS. Well done on the result

I believe both! Phonetically it’s something like ge-nay

The 7’s hand put me in a comfortable spot, and then I woke up with  Ahrt Aspades in the BB... folds round to the SB who jams 120k with  Ac 7d 😃

No sweat, and we’re upto 650k.

Shortly after I open Aspades 6s at 6-12k to 30k in late position and get three-bet to 77k by the SB. I call, and flop comes:
 
 Ad 8s  3s

Check - check

 Ahrt

Bet 80k, I call

  7d

Check-check

SB shows Kings, and with that we’re upto 1 million.



An uneventful level of two, in which I drifted back to maybe 850k, and then look down at Ad Ahrt in the hijack.

I raise to 35k at 16k BB....

Button goes all in for around 350k....

Small blind snap RESHOVEs for around 800k 😲😲😲

Button shows  Ts Tc
SB shows  Aspades Kh

A lovely  2h 3d Qh Qs 6h board and we hit the 2m mark

just catching up.....very well played. ;applause;

Thanks for the updates

Handy

One eventful moment, Martin Jacobson has just got knocked out (last 27-ish) and is about to scarper off..., my long time table mate, soon to be event runner up, Getnet, rubs (was going to correct this, but actually...) after him for a chat and photo. Mid-chat I drop in ‘so, Martin, have you ever ran well in a big tournament?’ Top bloke actually, very down to earth, must be tough when you hit the stars 🌟

I’ll be honest, last 27 to FT is a blur, was well 🍻 by then, so not much recall on hands - it was a bit of a cruise, always slightly above average, and last 15 or so cracked quickly enough....

Bagging up chips when the bubble burst was one of those moments I’ll never forget - £11k locked up, the absolute world ahead, every pay jump (for me) truly life changing  - when you have a one year old baba, and child care round the corner, it doesn’t half focus the mind 😎

This is fantastic, warms the heart. Well done, thoroughly pleased for you and the family.

Ahh...I see there is some video on the hendon mob database ...if the link is allowed.

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=sv&n=489030