After the long qualifying campaign through the Poker Player magazine/Betfair freeroll league, I somehow managed to finish in a high enough position to make the GRAND FINAL which saw the top 50 players in the league and 4 staff from Poker player magazine Take their seats at Big Slick poker room in Purley.
The day started with me getting a train from Colchester into London , tube to Victoria,train from Victoria to east Croydon and then finally a tram to the travel inn where i would eventually get a couple of hours kip sometime later
....
I get numerous calls from Flushy who was on his way to meet me to do some railing duties ... Most of them consisted of "Mug, where are ya, where is the travel inn, where do I go now, what station do i need, etc etc .... eventually he turns up at the Travel inn and we set off in a cab to the venue.
Big slick poker club is hidden away in a business centre and as we queued up to register we got our first view of what was actually a quite impressive place, nicely kitted out and tastefully decorated, Completely NON SMOKING, they dont even have a ciggy machine... I spose thats a good thing, but smokers are looked after with a covered smoking area outside with tables and chairs in a private courtyard.
I draw a seat on table "Bellagio" (All the tables are named after casinos in vegas) and before I know it the announcement comes ...."SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL".
I look around my table and take a bit of time to study everyone closely, It didnt take me too long to work out which players had played live before and which ones were experiencing live poker for the first time .... I also spot the guy with the WSOP cap and T-Shirt on.... and figure him to be the one that will make the early moves and take advantage of the tight opening exchanges... I wasnt wrong !!
He must have raised 7 of the first 10 pots, taking down 6 without any resistance, I decided to sit back and find an opportunity to trap him, while looking to find a spot to gather some early chips myself.
We started with 2,500 in chips and the blinds were 25/50 with a 30 minute clock.
The first hand i played cost me 400 chips, I raised to 200 with
in mid position and got 2 callers, we saw a flop of
and i fire in a continuation bet of 200 ... pass and a call .. turn brings
and i check ... matey fires in a bet of 500 and i pass, he shows pocket 2's for a set and I thank my lucky stars that the turn wasnt an Ace or a Jack.
I wasnt picking up anything at this point and kept my stack stable by stealing the blinds every now and then...
One guy at the table, a welsh guy had taken 2 people out by the time we reached the 100/200 level ... one of them with
v
on a
flop so he had plenty of chips .. I had built my stack to just over 3k by taking small pots and not doing anything tricky.
Then the key hand happened, blinds had just gone to 150/300 and I am BB .. the Welsh guy with all the chips min raises to 600 all pass to me and i look down to see
I flat call his raise and we see a flop of
BINGO I think and check to him .... he fires out for another 600 and I flat call again praying that I dont see a diamond ... turn brings
and I check again, this time he checks behind me and the river is the
giving me the full house ... I cant check to him becuse I think he will check behind me and i wanna get paid here, so i make a bet of 600 praying that he will think its weak and hoping that he has AK and will re raise me .... I am not dissapointed
he insta re raises me all in and taps the table when i show my full house to his AK.
A nice double up and im right back in the mix now, from there I maintained an average stack as players were starting to fall out with regularity, I didnt do anything tricky, I was playing ABC stuff with only the occasional sb v BB steal.
Flushy was constantly keeping tabs on me from the STT tables he was cleaning up on, he was also on his 12th double vodka and redbull .. good man
Before i know it tables are broken and we are down to the last 2 tables.
I take a small hit a couple of times on this table short stacks are pushing in and I lose with AK v A9 .... and AK v K8 but also take down a few small pots to keep my stack at average .... it wasnt long before i got my revenge on the A9 player, Mr Dacey from poker player ... I got all his chips when i turned a flush to his top pair, winning me the bounty of a betfair chipset ... which i promised to Flushy.
Down to 12 players now and this is where my game is weak, Im not aggressive enough in these situations and I rely on other people making mistakes and letting the big stacks take out the others, but i was just above average chips and somehow managed to make the final table of 9 with under average and just about the shortest stack.
This is where coach Flushy earned his free bed for the night, we went outside for a smoke during the pre final break and he sat with me and talked to me about finding a spot to make a move while i still had enough chips to force a pass, He also helped me to calm my nerves and reminded me that the others were probably as nervous as me and that no one wants to be the first one out of the final.
The final itself was a blur, not just because of the 15 bottles of becks that I had necked during the evening, but the nerves and pumping adrenaline were awesome, I couldnt help but think what players that i had so often railed in big big payout events felt in these situations, The buzz is incredible !!
We lose a player and are 8 handed when I make my first move, Serial raiser raises from early position and it passes to me in the SB, I look down at
and decide that this was it .... RERAISE all in !! BB and UTG pass and serial raiser goes into the tank .... I was absolutely cakking myself but managed to keep it together externally, I think i managed to contain my relief when he finally passed and I had added a few chips to my stack.
Another player goes and we are down to 7 I am still shortest on the table and looking for a spot to double up or die.
I didnt have to wait too long .. Im on the button and it folds to me, i look at one card and it is the
no point looking at the other one I think, and announce ALL IN !!
I look over at the SB and he insta calls my all in which leaves him with about 6000 chips, then the BB also calls (he is chip leader) so still betting on the side and i look around to Flushy who is stood right behind me, he puts his hand on my shoulder and wishes me good luck .... the flop comes
.... what a dream flop for me I think, Ive only looked at 1 card so I know I have a real chance here.....
SB checks and BB announces all in ... SB passes and BB turns over
I pray that i have another club with my
and turn the other card ... F**K ME its the
!! I dont know what hit the river, but it wasnt a 10 and I had trebled up, the dream was still alive.
Down to 5 players and another key moment, the Loudest player at the table was now short and SB to my BB passed round to him and he pushes , its about a 5th of my stack to call and I look down to see
... I have a bit off a dwell and gobby starts with all the speech play, "come on.. call me i need to double up", and then starts going on about how he wants to go to stringfellows and he will take me with him if i call .... I keep calm and look at my cards one more time and say CALL !! a big cheer goes up from the rail and he immediately starts saying Noooooooo you cant call as he flips over
a King on the flop sends him packing in 5th and im down to the last 4 !!
I cant remember how the other 2 went out but before I know it I am HEADS UP and we break for 5 minutes.
Flushy is now like a corner man in a boxing match, we go outside and he is pumping me up, telling me that weve got it now, we can do it ... and advising me that i need to not let him run over me ... I need to make a stand against a very aggressive player, but be strong and take your chnaces.
We sit down for the battle and the chip count puts him in the lead by about 60-40 I have to admit to being outplayed here, he battered me for a few hands and got up to about a 3/1 chip lead, I had had enough and Flushys words came back to me ... be strong, be aggressive, take the initiative away from him ... I decided that i was either gonna win it or go out fighting, i wasnt going to just whimper out by passing all the time .... He raised as expected and I pushed all in with garbage... he passed. I sensed that this was my time ... I look down at
and push all my chips in, he insta calls and turns
We both stand up and the rail close in on the table as the flop is dealt .... First card out is
and nothing else drops ... I have got lucky and double up, i now have the chip lead and the VERY next hand I flat call his raise with
the flop comes
He bets out and I push all in ... He thinks for about 20 seconds and calls .... All his chips are in now ,, and he turns
I flip my flush draw and the crowd are all oooohing and craning over the table as the dealer stacks the chips and positions our hole cards to deal the turn ... I wish my oponent good luck and we shake hands, I look at flushy and whisper to him "Just one spade, just this once" he whispers back "Its coming son, dont worry" .... Its like slow motion as the dealer reveals the turn..... its the
and my oppo is drawing dead ..... I cant believe it .... the crowd start clapping and cheering and flushy is the first person to grab hold of me and give me a great big bear hug while telling me im a jammy b*stard and a luck box
everyone is shaking hands with me and my oponent is very generously wishing me well and we have a few seconds to chat and it was all surreal ... I was sooooo elated at winning, yet felt bad for a guy that i had never met before and It was a strange mix of emotions.
I then get called up to receive the trophy and I still cant believe what has happened, I actually started to get quite emotional, whether it was just the release of the pressure that had built up, or just the fact that im a big soft lump, I dont know, But I was filling up and had to go outside for a smoke and a brether to compose myself a bit ... Flushy was almost as excited as me, and I have to thank him for his help and advice ..... he was first class.
So there you have it , Im off to singapore for a $5000 buy in comp .... WTF is that all about ? the biggest buy in comp i have ever played is a £150 event at Blackpool, And now im off to the far east to play in a comp that has Phil Ivey in it .... Surreal.
Thanks to everyone for their warm congratulations messages, it was really touching and meant a lot to me.
I cant wait for the trip and still cant believe i am going ..... I just hope that this dream might be a 2 parter .... and the best is yet to come ....
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