For anyone interested, here's a few words on Walsall. I've done my best with the information available to me. Always tricky when you're playing the comp yourself. Anyhows, I've given it my best shot. Hope you find it interesting.
Walsall £300 nlh freezeout ? 20/21 Aug 05 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Soon after, he came up with the double chance freezeout. Ever been cold decked on the first hand and sent spinning down the M6, only yourself and a set of fury dice for company? Remember how it felt when those aces were cracked early on by the table maniac? Well, fear no more, for the double chance freezeout is here, and Walsall are using it for their monthly £300 no limit comps.
This was my first time playing with the said stipulation, and when Malc-M enquired over my strategy, I had no response. I was going in blind! However, the general feeling was that it could be played as a normal freezeout, with the extra chips used as back-up if you went broke or as an add-on if you were lucky enough to still have your ticket in tact at the end of level 2.
112 turned up. The usual motley crew were present and there was the odd familiar face in Lucy Rokach and Paul ?actionjack? Jackson. Plenty of Blondites in attendance. Malc-M, RED-DOG, Ironside, dan, jammer, I KNOW IT, nick.w, to name a few. It was great to finally meet the lap-dancing obsessed Ironside, and his anecdote of how his mates used to call him Short Circuit had me chuckling well into the comp.
I?ve always been impressed with Walsall. Big update screen, regular appearances from waitresses, friendly staff, and, of course, the voice of God warning you of an increase in blinds. If only he could give me a yell every time I was up against aces.
So with chips on table and the muffled microphone voice politely asking for players to be seated, the unearthly rabble of Blondites made their way over to the cardroom, ready to ?shuffle up and deal?.
On my table were fellow Blondites jammer and I KNOW IT. I also recognised Walsall regular D Sami (A.K.A. ?magic?), a dangerous player who lost his fearsome edge when he informed us he was listening to the Bangles? ?Eternal Flame? on his ipod. Not so intimidating anymore.
Looking down I saw 3.5k in chips and my ?get out of jail free? card. With blinds at only 25/50 and not due to rise for another 45 minutes, we were given plenty of freedom to play some poker. However, that didn?t really happen. The table started cagily with few big moves made and shouts for a refill were infrequent.
In contrast, Bob Carolg? er RED-DOG had found himself in the company of Lucy Rokach, which meant a tight affair was going to be unlikely. Possessing an ultra aggressive style raising with any two cards, she was always going to be problematic. Also on his table was casino regular, Doc (boy, that?s original), a strong solid player who amassed a mountain of chips, establishing himself as one of the early chip leaders.
In the early stages, RED-DOG suffered a severe knock back when his aces were outdrawn by a pair of ladies A third queen joined the party on the river and RED-DOG was forced to reach for his ticket. A harsh blow to take, but one that was softened by the refill option.
After a brief scour around the tables, it became clear that the Blondites had made a slow start. In fact, only Ironside was making any headway. After a couple of montser hands were paid off, Mr Iron actually had a stack! Most Blondites were running steady, but few were threatening the chip leaders like Ironside. There was no need to panic though, blinds were low and there was still a long way to go.
An early hand on my table saw I KNOW IT gleaming with joy when his 56 flopped a straight against a set of
and pocket aces. The fact that one player had tried, and failed, to raise with his aces preflop meant that I KNOW IT had seen the flop for cheap. It also meant that those aces paid off the straight. The result? The board failed to pair and the mob member took down a healthy pot.
Meanwhile, RED-DOG was moving steadily in the right direction, showing few hands and recovering positively from his earlier setback. At the break, he had grinded his way up to 7.5k. He was in the black and had his head above water. A good result all things considered.
After the break, RED-DOG swiftly turned that 7.5k into 15 when he was dealt AQ. His raise found 2 callers. An ace hit the flop and RED-DOG saw his bet succeeded by an all-in move. RED-DOG called and his opponent showed A9. Turn and river was blank and the moustached one took down the pot.
I later learnt that Ironside's early progress had been dashed by the poker gods just before the break. A few set-backs seriously dented his stack and he never fully recovered. Not to worry though, the Blondite would later show his winning prowess in the £25 rebuy comp.
As time went on, play naturally loosened up. Players became comfortable at the table and seemed more willing to stick their chips in. One hand of note involved jammer. After raising preflop with AK, he found himself faced with a reraise. Jammer concluded that he had too few chips and opted to call, probably hoping for a 50-50 situation at best. Unfortunately, his opponent put a spanner in the works when he smugly turned over his pocket rockets. So that was jammer done with. Well? you?d thinks so, but no, what?s this, a cowboy on the flop followed by another on the turn. The poker fairy waves her wand and jammer doubles up. ?I didn?t stand up. I just had a feeling, ? he later claimed.
As the tables lessened, I recall actionjack making his way to a newly formed cash table. I smartly concluded that he?d taken an early bath and was out of the comp. ?He?s out. I?m still in. I must be the better player,? I deduced wishfully.
In a PM, Malc-M later informed me that although things hadn't gone his way in the comp, he was more than happy with a read he managed to put on an opponent. He shrewdly spotted that a guy who went all-in (35x the blind) was on tilty wilty and probably hadn't even looked at his cards. Amazingly, Malc managed to make a super duper call with his KT to catch his opponent red-handed with T9 off. Excellent read, shame about the 9 on the river. It's a cruel game, but I sense a big win is near for Malc-M.
In contrast, my chips had seen very little movement. The plan was to play tight but aggressive early on, before making my moves when the blinds increased. I possessed 8.1k at the break, but my stack only really increased when I asked for change. Through some extreme grinding, I stayed in touch without dropping too low.
Down to around 60 players and a few Blondites had been axed. There were sad faces all around with the exception of Ironside who was just chuffed to have beaten his previous attempt ? although 5 minutes isn?t too long. Kudos to the Scotsman who stayed around to offer his support. Oh, and to play the £25 rebuy comp. ? which he took £450 from. Nice one son! How many lapdancers will that get you?!? Hehe.
It was around this time that Blondite chips made some serious movements into pots. I was overjoyed to see a king hit a river when my pocket kings were outflopped by a set of
. I rose from my chair as the turn came a rag, but I was merely stretching. I knew it was coming all along. (cough) Now on 15k I wiped the beads of sweat from my brow and kissed my lucky chip. At last, I?ve found a lucky charm that works! Jammer and I gave up on that lucky urinal months ago. It?s embarrassing having to queue for it when the others are free.
RED-DOG fell around this time. He said it best himself in a forum post. ?I made a world class move against the table chipleader. I raised with AQ, he called, the flop gave me an up and down straight draw and two overcards, I went all in for 14k.The trouble was, he didn?t know it was a world class move and he called with his set and busted me. Will they never learn??
On my table was fellow Blondite, dan. He was up and down like a yoyo and in and out like the Hokey Cokey. After a couple of knock backs and down to 4 big blinds, dan made a timely all-in maneuver with his A8, in the hope that everyone would fold. However, that didn?t quite happen as both an AQ and AK holding pushed in. After a Q69 flop, things weren?t looking too rosy for dan and he was preparing to leave. I then witnessed dan literally call out the next two cards, 7 followed by a 10. He made a miracle straight and took a nice pot. It?s all about timing.
A brisk look to my left saw jammer standing in the shadows, seemingly in need of consoling. He informed me that he?d flatcalled queens under the gun, in hope of a raise. As always seems to happen, this became the one hand where no one raised and he ended up seeing a flop with several others. A rainbow flop served up Q8rag. Jammer trapchecked the harmless flop. Everyone else checked. Turn came a 9, offering a potential straight draw. Jammer's bet was reraised, jammer called praying for a set of
, but he was crushed to see JT turned over. The only harmful card had arrived and jammer was sent packing.
Meanwhile, I?d worked my stack up to 27k. Everything was going great guns until the table witnessed two new arrivals. Micky ?The Worm? Wernick sat down to my right and the chip leader, who had more chips than RED-DOG has twins, shoved his 60 or so thousand down onto my left. It was difficult to see him over the barricade, but I could just about make out Madturk, a super aggressive player who is a raising machine with the lowest of stacks, never mind Mount Everest. My nicking days were over.
It was in fact the Madturk who seriously dented dan. Dan raised 3.8k with aces. Mardturk called. The flop came a rather dangerous 678. Madturk checked. Dan bet 5k and was quickly called. The turn came 10, both checked. A rag hit the river and Madturk bet. Dan called and was disappointed to be shown 89 for the straight. Those cards were pretty high for madturk. Dan never recovered from this beat and soon exited with around 4 tables left. Madturk simply couldn?t miss and his stack was getting even bigger.
Around 3am, Day 1 was brought to a close. I had 20.5k. Just below average stack, so not bad. However, I knew I?d have to find some hands with Madturk lurking on my left with a near 100k stack. It was a refreshing change not to have to play to 5 or 6 o?clock and meant that I could return slightly more rejuvenated than in other comps.
Day 2 soon arrived and the weary eyed players got back down to business. Yours truly couldn?t buy a hand. A bit of paint was all I asked for, but nada, zip, nothing. After being dented by the increasing blinds and having an A9 suited go the shape of the pear, I found myself down to 11k and in desperate times. Bizarrely it was around this time that my hands seemed to improve (ahem) as I moved all-in quite frequently trying to take the blinds and stay alive.
After a lengthy drought of cards and potential heart failure from the all-ins, I found AK and doubled up to 25k against QQ when a king hit the flop.
With a few chips to play with I was able to build upon my stack and progress comfortably into the last 10. By the time I reached the final table, I had 43k. Again, around average stack.
The final looked like this:
Seat 1: James Egarr
Seat 2: John Morgan
Seat 3 A Sivaguru (Doc)
Seat 4: Anonymous
Seat 5: Snoopy1239 (little me)
Seat 6: N. Cartwright
Seat 7: Maurice Nicholson
Seat 8: Victor Rooney
Seat 9: M Z Hussain
Seat 10: Y. Eminoglu (madturk)
Madturk was still chip leader, yet the poker gods had also blessed him with seat 10. Blinds were a very respectable 1.5/3k. Still a lot of poker to be played, although after giving the prize structure the once over, I knew a deal would eventually be made.
Prize structure:
1st = £13400
2nd = £7100
3rd = £3700
4th = £2700
5th = £1700
6th = £1300
7th = £1200
8th = £1000
9th = £800
10th = £700
Bit top heavy for my liking. Has 1st really played THAT much of a better comp. Anyhow, that was the set-up, so it was on with the final.
The final was a relatively cagey affair. Madturk continued his aggressive streak and attempted to build on his large stack. Others were just praying for hands and trying to take blinds.
After the two smaller stacks, Cartwright (10th) & Anonymous (9th) were eliminated, eight players loosened up and played a few more hands. Best hand I could find was pocket
, but I was doing just about enough grinding to stay in the contact with the table.
The most noteworthy hand of the final came when Madturk reraised Doc?s KK with AQ. Crikey, does that Doc finds the hands at good times! The board was ace free and Doc took an enormous pot. Must have been well in excess of 200k.
Madturk tilted somewhat and ended up becoming involved in most of the pots. I will never forget when he slammed down a 23 stonecold bluff onto the table.
Around this time I actually found a genuine raising hand. Fortunately, the button did the betting for me with his K9 off. I stuck in my 45k before you could say ?fingers trapped in the cookie jar? and he was forced to call. Jacks looked strong, but I still had to escape a King. The quads I hit extinguished that fear somewhat.
It took a while, but John Morgan eventually hit eighth after being outdrawn by Doc. Soon after, the matter of money cropped up. This was followed by the usual wheeling and dealing. Always ends up in an argument of some kind though. Starts off good-natured. An average stack suggests a deal, the big stacks mull it over, the short stacks keep stum and hope for the best. After the bickering and quarreling, not to mention the usual complaint over £20, Doc suggested a chip count and a deal was finally struck. Doc took 500 off his 8.5k and gave it to the lowest stack, whilst myself and three others took around 4k. I was in fact 2nd chip leader at the time by 1k, but there were 3 or 4 players with around 100k.
The most bizarre part of the night was when we were obliged to play out the tournament to a finish. We all wanted to get our filthy mitts on the hard cash, but first we had to follow the gaming board ruling of completing the comp. With all 7 players standing, all chips were pushed across the line and cards were dealt face up. Yes. I agree. This is ridiculous! I was hoping Doc would win the hand so I could go home, but no, the poker gods wanted a quick giggle and let the shortest stack win. Noooooo!
Finally, everyone got their money. Was quite an experience to see the cash desk count out 31 grand.
So, thoughts of the comp overall? General feedback is positive. RED-DOG, jammer, dan, and others all thoroughly enjoyed the comp and praised the structure. The double-chance really gives you some breathing space and should be a welcome addition to any such tournament. Any competition that allows room for so much poker to be played should be applauded in my eyes. Many thx to Zak and Dan (DaniVersaci) who organized an excellent comp.
Now, back to the $5 rebuy on Friday, although I fear it may be a slightly looser affair?
By snoopy1239
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