World Heads Up Championship at the Vic- sold out

Sorry guys, it's bad news. I'm on my way back to Brum...

The day started with bad news for the organisers, as, despite hanging on for a while, only 40 registered. Soon after, came bad news for me, as I was drawn against Sorel Mizzi in my first match.

I had to acknowledge that (give or take Dario) this was probably the worst possible news, but at the same time, put that to the back of my mind, and give him a good run for his money.

He played as you might expect; really well, and very aggressively, without wanting to get it in too crazily. Here are the key pots.

- Blinds start at 100/200, witha 20k starting stack. I raise A10 to 600 on the small blind, and he calls. Flop K82, both check. Turn ace, which is a second spade; he checks, and calls a 900 bet. River is a blank five, for K82A5. He leads for 1.5k. I don't like it, but think for a while and call. He shows ace-five.

- Sorel limps for the big blind of three, I raise 600 more with K6 offsuit. He calls, flop is 6c5x3c. I bet 1k, he calls. Turn is a seven, check-check. River is a blank seven, for a board of 65377. He leads for 2.8k, and I tank and call. He shows ace-seven.

- I was down to about 15k, and raised ace-nine off to 900 from the 200 small blind. Sorel called, and we saw a rainbow flop of 987. For the first time in the match, he led out, for 1,200. I had already decided that, given the flow of the match, a lead out was most likely to be looking to 3-bet all-in, with something like a weak pair/draw combo. I was tempted to flat call, given it felt like I could be pretty sure what the safe/dangerous turn cards would be. However, I decided that if he was going to 3-bet all-in with a hand like 108, I should be happy to escalate the pot, and try to get it in as a slight favorite.

I raised to 3.5k, and he thought for a while. I may be wrong, but it just felt like he changed his mind, as he decided to flat call. I was hoping for a safe card, but ther turn came better than that. It was an ace, to give me the top two pair. I had a decision, with 8.8k in the pot, and 10.5k in my stack. I felt I should't make the strongest looking bet of something like 6-7k, but needed to protect my hand, and so moved all-in. He again thought for a long while, and eventually folded, which was very frustrating.

It is this hand I regret the most. I should maybe have been prepared to ride the danger of a cheap or even free card, in order to allow him to make a big move at the pot. It might actually have been better to check, and invite him to make a big move on a river that did not improve his hand, whilst being prepared to get away from probably a jack, eight or six. It obviously would have been an unusual move, but relied on him having played so well that he would follow through a bluff that I could make "look" a very good one.

- Up to 19k, I called a min-raise to 800 with 107 of spades. The flop was Aj7 rainbow, and I decided to play my hand aggressively by check-raising his 1.2k bet to 3.6k. Sorel made the call, and I was prepared to give up, before hitting the gin card on the turn, a ten. I checked a board of AJ107, and faced a 4.5k bet. It was obviously a tricky spot, but I felt my hand was beating more of Sorel's value bets than it was losing to, and committed the rest of my chips. He snapped, and showed ace-jack for the flopped top two.

A frustrating sucker hand at the end, but a sucker hand that I potentially get away from if I don't make the untimely bluff on the flop.

Anyway, thanks very much for the backing guys, sorry to have not delivered more excitement.