GUKP Luton continued Level 15 (2,000/4,000 and 300 ante) - a great session for me !!
· Win a small pot as SB vs BB when my king high meets a king high flop which I bet and he folds
· Open raise with pocket two's to win the blinds - a bit loose for me but I'm running good!
· Limp with J 10 but fold to a re raise
· And now a key pot. An EP player (Nick Gibson) raises to 11k and I find aces (again!). I raise to 27k and he dwells for an age, asking me how much I have behind (it's 95k). Eventually he calls and we see a flop, which is A 8 5 with two clubs. He checks to me and I decide the clubs mean I should bet. I pause and reflect on the bet size and feel a pot-sized bet may be right. I pause again and he looks strong to me. I try to look weak. After some hesitation I decide an over bet may look weak and I push for the whole 95,000. He snap calls with AK, thinking he's got me! I was pleased to see he didn't have clubs and he was drawing dead. He was visibly shocked to see my aces. They hold and I'm now on around 250,000. Wow!
· Raised with Q 10 s to take the blinds
· Lost my big blind.
· Next hand as SB vs BB, stole with no hand by betting the flop to take the pot
Level 16 (3,000/6,000 and 400 ante) · Just 21 left now. Average is 144,000; I have 260,000 and whilst I didn't realise at the time, this put me in the top 4 or 5
· Now a controversial hand as a serial raiser raises my BB and I see 5
and decide I have implied odds to call and play fit or fold poker. Flop is K 4 6, which I quite like. I like it more when he checks and gives me a free card. Turn is an ace and its check, check again. The river is
, giving me a straight but putting 3 diamonds on the board. He bets 20,000 and I elect to just call rather than raising. This may have been soft. Would others have raised here? What if he re raised back?
He shows K8 for 2 pair and is very critical of my pre flop call when he sees what I have. He had called me a rock a few times. Perhaps he'll see me differently now! Incidentally, I felt he let me get there with the free cards. I chose not to make that point out loud! Comments on this hand please.
· As BB I call a raise to 15k with pocket sixes, viewing it as a set mining bet. Miss the flop and fold.
· Raise to 18k with KJ but fold to a re raise
· Took blinds with AJ
· EP player raised and I have AK on the button. Chose to play safe and flat call (Cautious, but a mistake possibly? Opinions welcome). The flop is Q 10 x so I have two over cards and a gutshot draw. His bet is fairly modest so with 10 outs to improve, I call. Another queen comes but it's a diamond and I now have a flush draw too but the board is paired so I just call his reasonable turn bet. River blanks and I've missed. He checks, I check behind. He has AQ for trips. I wondered if my AK would have won if I'd re raised pre flop but he says he would have called, so my caution may have saved me from getting into trouble in an inflated pot. What do you think ?
· Raised and took the blinds with pocket tens.
Level 17 (4,000/8,000 and 500 ante)· Just 18 left now. Average is 170,000; I have dropped to 240,000 but still in good shape and have a top 9 stack.
· Two limpers and I find pocket kings again, raise to 40k and take the pot. EP player (the man from my 5 7 hand), says “good squeeze play”
· Lost a round of blinds
· Called a raise with pocket fives, missed and folded to a flop bet. Shouldn't have played this hand!
· Lost another round of blinds and I'm now down to 220,000 but there are only 13 left and I've laddered up to £2,300. Next increase is to £3,050 at 11.
· Took blinds with AJ
· Took blinds with AQ
· Lost my BB – but we've ended this level now and there are just 12 left.
Level 18 (5,000/10,000 and 500 ante) · Short handed, its getting hard to write detailed notes on my mobile phone and observe the table / keep up and not slow things down, so I stop recording for this level in detail.
· I recall taking the blinds with pocket sevens
· I also recall facing a raise and seeing pocket eights and deciding not to play.
· With 7 hands to go we have 11 left. We have 6, other table has 5
· With 2 hands to go we still have 11 left – I'm coming back for day 3, but not quite on the final table yet. Feels good but just ever so slightly unsatisfactory.
· Penultimate hand and the other table has an all in and a call. We're down to 10!
· Last hand and EP player opens raises to 35,000. I find AQ and having drifted down by not playing, I'm down to 140,000 and below average for the first time in quite a while. I dwell and seriously consider pushing all in. Eventually I find a fold, deciding I don't want to be final table bubble boy! There is one caller. Original raiser bets out on a jack high flop and is called. Checked turn and river and original raiser shows AJ to take the pot. I'm fairly sure my shove would have got through and won me 50,000 chips. I feel this was a missed opportunity.
· Just as we're standing up, we hear an all in and call from the other table and suddenly we're told we've made the final table. (Asif was the bubble boy). 2 bust outs in the last 2 hands was incredible – and good for me!
· Once our chips are bagged and counted, I find myself the shortest stack of the 9 remaining and I have mixed feelings. I'm really pleased to have achieved a goal but I'm also feeling that I've played too passively in the last hour, aiming to final table, but at the expense of my stack. Still it's a great feeling to have finalled, and having lost track of payouts for a while, I'm reminded that 9th place pays a minimum of £6,100.
Day two SummaryPlayed 34 hands in 9 hours today (31 yesterday, so fairly consistent!).. Had aces and kings 3 times each, queens once & jacks once – again extremely similar to the day before, and as before all of these held up. Think of that, a top 4 pair 17 times and never once losing. Charmed or what?
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