Hey guys,
Should have got this up on here before, but was too busy railing James and enjoying the last of my time in Ireland
The second event went as badly as the first. The 8k starting chips meant you really had to get off to a good start and I really didn't.
About 20 minutes in I raised in MP with K-Qhh and the button called, a young guy (english I think) that I didn't recognise. I c-bet a K-high flop and he called, looking fairly confident. The Jack on the turn turn slowed me down, as clearly if he is fairly strong on that flop then KJ was one of the few hands I was beating. We check-checked the turn and I check-called a blank river, being shown AK - I know this is not particularly useful, but I now can't remember the bet sizes, save to say that I lost close to 2k in the pot. In hindsight maybe I can pass the end, but at the time felt I had to make a crying call as my line throughout the hand showed no strength and he could easily be value betting KQ or a weaker K or even a jack or smaller pocket pair such as tens - I realise this is tough to comment on without knowing bet sizes!
So, down to just under 6k and still at 25-50 I raised Q-T to 125 from the cut-off and both blinds called. I c-bet 300 on a T-8-4 and a young swedish guy in the SB check-raised to 875. This sounds like a straightforward pass, but he looked so so uncomfortable that I felt sure he was weak and was raising in order to either take it there or with a lead on the turn. I called and we saw a 2 on the turn. He led for most of the pot (1600 or 1700) and I was playing ~4800. I decided to go with my read from the flop and continue with the hand, but that if I flatted here he was unlikely to continue a bluff on the river once I had called 1/3 of my remaining stack on the turn, so I got my stack in. He snapped me off and showed a turned set of twos. Not fun.
So, sorry for the lack of return and for the lack of even the chance for a sweat! I am going to be taking a quiet time from poker for a bit - I have my 4th year uni exams in ~6 weeks, so need to move pretty much full time into the library
Hope you guys can do better than I have done recently and hope to see you in Vegas!
Tom
Author