Bainn and Kev in Poker Player

Quote from: Colchester Kev on December 19, 2006, 05:15:16 PM

Its Catweazles (Bains) pet name for me ... bless him.

Here is the original report which i sent to poker player magazine.

It was finally here .... The day I had been so looking forward to since my win in the grand final of the Poker player/betfair Grand Prix event. Im in a massive conference room in a plush hotel in Singapore and rubbing shoulders with people like TonyG , Marc Goodwin, Gus Hansen, Liz Liu and a host of other players who i have heard of or read about over the years.

Now Im no stranger to big poker events, I have travelled all over the place to major festivals , I even did a 6 week stay in Vegas for last years world series ... BUT I have never played in the events, I usually go with pals who are jobbing circuit Pro's .. I am sort of an official railbird, neither my ability or my bankroll would allow me to play in such high entry fee events, Thats why this trip meant so much to me ... it was me looking for my starting table ... it was me that was sat riffling my chips and looking around my starting table searching for signs of nerves etc on my opponents faces ... it was me that felt a burning rush of adrenaline as Thomas Kremser announced the immortal words .."Dealers, SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL".

My nerves were immediately calmed as the first hand of the event was played, I'm in the big blind and all fold to the small blind who just makes up the blinds, I look down to see J9 off and check, The flop brings both a Jack & a 9 !!! the small blind bets and i minimum raise his bet, he passes and I win the first hand of the comp. I feel like getting out of my seat, punching the air and screaming that I am the chip leader on my table .... But I manage to disguise my inner feelings and just get it quietly lol.

From there I hit a rush of cards including quad 9's and by the first break I have increased my starting stack from 10,000 to 16,000 and was absolutely chuffed with how it was all going, all fears about being too scared to play a hand or being the first player out of the comp had evaporated and I was sitting at my table feeling comfortable and confident.

During the next few hours of play, nothing much happened, i was completely card dead and just nicked the occassional blind to maintain my stack and wait for the chance to increase it. Alas the chance never really materialised, and my stack was starting to dwindle due to having to lay cards down to big bets and missing flops, After 10 hours of play on the first day ...yes 10 HOURS (by far the longest stint at a card table I have ever had) my last 5,000 chips decided that they wanted to go and sit with someone elses chips, I raise 3 times the Big blind from the button with Ace diamonds, 10 diamonds small blind calls, Big blind passes. flop comes 10 spades 7 diamonds 4 diamonds, perfect flop for me and i push my remaing chips over the line and announce all in ... insta call from my opponent and he flips over JJ ... Yuk ... No diamond or 10 materialises and i stand up wish the table good luck and make my way out of the playing area, The dream was over, no fairytale ending ... I'm OUT !! I glance over at the info screens to see that I am out in 130th place and although I am out, i am certainly not down, 10 hours of top level poker in the memory bank and a million memories of a fantastic trip to singapore that didnt cost me 1 penny .... Thanks to Poker Player & Betfair, oh and the poker gods for guiding me through the Grand Prix field LOL.

Special mention has to go to Betfair, what a mammoth task it must have been to get this event together, the cost and logistics involved must have been phenomenal, yet to their credit they pulled it off seemlessly and their hospitality was first class.

To Dave Woods and Shelley Rubenstein from Poker Player for all your support and help, I thank you. and Dave , you still owe me for the cab from Singapore Airport to the hotel !! lol.

The trip was special, from street markets to river cruises, from Hooters to Raffles hotel ............................ From a few internet freerolls to SINGAPORE .... WOW !!!

I have got the taste for this now, bring on the next Grand Prix series ... I cant wait.

Glad they edited it for the magazine... Wink

Can I have your autograph?