Finally home and settled in my apartment after a lovely weekend back in London.
Many thanks again to the LPC and Blonde for a crack at this tournament.
My week started off in Sao Paolo, recovering from British F1 World Drivers and Constructors Championship victory hangovers, it then saw me with my head down catching up on paperwork and planning a brief trip back to the UK to catch up with my family and help my Brother and his family move house.
Then came the joy of winning a 18-1 shot for entry into the LPC Friday Fifty, a quick rearrangement of plans and re-packed suitcases and all is organised.
48 hours without sleep and a stop over in Berlin later, I arrive back at Heathrow early on Thursday morning, not really registering what time of day it is, let alone which Country I am in. Sadly though, my organisation is not as good as BA's (or my PA for that matter) and when I open my suitcase I realise that I've sent the wrong one home to New York and all I have with me is a couple of suits and no jeans/t-shirts. Oh well, at least a three-piece suit won't look too out of place in a casino!
A very good nights sleep, aided nicely by a fruity Australian Red and I'm ready to wander up to the Hotel and catch up with Jon MW for pre poker drinks. After a few jokes about my attire and my complete lack of organisational ability, it's about time for the game to start. Unfortunately however, due to "passenger action" at Oxford Circus tube many players have yet to arrive and consequently, the start time is put back a bit to allow for those inconvenienced by a complete lack of a Central Line service to saunter along Regent Street.
The tournament gets under way and I'm in seat 9, sat next to the dealer, cue the comments from the rest of the table that I look more like a dealer than the dealer himself does! With the ice duly broken, the guys at my table are a friendly bunch, obviously out for a bit of fun on a Friday and look to enjoy themselves and play some fun Poker. Over the course of the evening, much chatting is to be had, jokes told, hands analysed and piss suitably taken. All in all a perfect mix of poker and personalities.
The players on the table were the normal range of loose, aggro, tight and nervous newbie. Lots of flops were seen early doors and no one really wanted to get heavy unless they had premium hands. Then the fireworks started, at the 25/50 level UTG (reasonably tight) raises to 350, it folds round to the hi-jack who re-pops to 850, folds back to UTG who makes it 1950. HJ shoves, UTG calls. HJ has
and UTG
, obviously Aces hit on the flop and river and the Tournaments first shout of "CHIPS" is heard.
From there on in, the reputations slowly build, the calling stations are identified, the aggro players noted and the tight players memorised for blind stealing. A few more large pots elicit further calls of "CHIPS" from our table and others.
After the break, the antes started to kick in and the play became a bit more open. I was having a reasonable time taking down a few small pots here and there and stealing a few blinds, but not really going anywhere fast. Jon MW busts out and heads up to the bar. Then with blinds at 600/1200/100 UTG+2 (a relatively new player to the table, but massively stacked) raises to 3000, I flat in next position and everyone else folds. The flop comes a nice 7 5 2 for my pocket 8's, UTG+2 c-bets, so I shove my last 11k to be shown AKs, running 3/4 sees the end of my tournament and a wander up stairs to the Bar to join Jon in busto corner. As it's nearly midnight, we decide to head back to the hotel.
Overall, the night was a very good one. A well structured and organised tournament that was only 30 mins late in starting (given the lack of a central line, this in itself was impressive) a friendly crowd with a positive attitude of play and have a good time. No bad beats were moaned about, no showboating or slow-rolling was witnessed and the evening passed in a relaxed and positive way.
There were about 85 runners I think and about 90 rebuys/add-ons combined.
The LPC Friday Fifty is a tournament I'd highly recommend playing if you find yourself in London when it's running. Both Jon and I agreed that the best way to approach it is as a £100 f/o, unless you suffer a bad beat in the first 3 levels, the 5k starting stack is more than sufficient and then take the add-on after level 3.
Thanks again to the LPC and Blonde for the chance to play this comp and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a friendly and fun way to punt £100 on a Friday night.
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