Yesterday saw the start of the Gutshot Series of Poker (GSOP) £300 Main Event. Unusually for a buy in of this size, 4 days have been set aside to complete the 2 hour clock marathon. Even more unusually, for once I am playing in a tournament. So, how did this happen?
Well, yesterday afternoon I decided I would have a crack at the £20 rebuy super sat that they held at 2pm. There were 41 runners and I started off in the usual vein of being horribly outdrawn and finding myself involved for £80 by the time the rebuys ended. There were to be 6 seats and £100 for 7th, but there was to be no cigar for me as I busted out in 11th.
Wardonkey Patrick Taylor turned up just in time to see my short stack bb stand of A5 fall on its sword. So, I consoled myself with a beer as Patrick tackled the biggest hamburger this side of the Hoover Dam. I clearly did not have enough money on my person to be able to buy in and my daily cashpoint limit of £200 was not going to be enough either. Then, what should happen? Well, the Blonde crew strolled into town, in the shape of Tikay, Jen, Snoopy, Chili, Red-Dog and Yoyo. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they very kindly agreed to buy varying percents of me so and in an extra nice gesture Tony has waived any theoretical returns (in the unlikely event that I make the money) so for £40 I am playing for 45% of myself.
Goal one achieved, getting into the thing.
Goal two - make it past day one.
As all this was very last minute, within a few moments of sorting out the buy in, we had sat down to play. It was not the starting table I was looking for. I had Hugo Martin and Ade Bayo to my right, a player with the nickname 'Ghandi' and Nick Persaud to my left and directly opposite was another strong Gutshor player Hugh Kirton.
Now anyone who has played with Ade Bayo wil know that being drawn on the same table as him means it is not going to be a quiet one. It is fair to say he eclipses renowned talkers like Paul Parker with his relentless and repetetive 'don't steal my big blind' routine. Although amusing in some senses, in a 2-hour clock jobbie its not what you need to find a comfortable pace to play at. At least I had remembered my i-Pod, so there could be some relief from the innane chatter.
I rocked up big style for the first couple of levels. I did play a few small pots, winning some, giving up others, but did not get involved too much. There was drama on our table about an hour into play when Nick Persaud departed, allegedly misreading his hand when calling an all-in on the river...heard that somewhere before I think...
Towards the end of the third level I had been reduced to 6,600 chips and was moved table. This was my opportunity to change gears and make a stab at it. Unfortunately both the moves I made on this table came to nothing. I reraised to 1500 with
but was chopped off when a third raiser set me in. I passed and he showed
. Another move with pocket threes fell victim to the same player, again holding pocket kings. Down to just over 4,000 chips and this table was broken. My new seat was immediately to the right of the very talented young player James Akenhead. There was only one hour left of play and I had resolved to just sit it out and grind my way into day two. My stack was down to 2,650 with 2 hands to play and as I looked down to see
UTG, I decided to go for it. In the chips went and there was one caller. He turned over
. I was in trouble. Just as I thought that was that, a lovely
fell on the river and right on time, I had that all crucial double up and a place in day 2.
I am returning with 5,650 and am determined to make a go of it today. I will try to win this thing or die in the process. A combination of the shock of actually playing and a first table that it was impossible to concentrate on left me feeling like more of a spectator than a player yesterday, but with my first mission of making day 2 accomplished I am now ready to go for gold.
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