WPT Nottingham Main EventFirst off, what a fantastic tournament. It was a 5 day tournament with a 90 minute clock on days 2, 3 and 4. Yes the structure was fantastic and yes it means you can play a little bit cautious, but I made sure I really looked deeply into the structure to understands when to adjust. For example there was times we had 12.5% antes and times we has almost 20% antes, people didn't seem to notice this. Their sizings stayed the same as did their defending frequencies. I made a concious effort of not over defending in the big blind when the antes were "small". I think the big blind is such an important position in tournaments, but especially live tournaments.
I just wrote a really long strategy segment but deleted it now as don't really want to go too deep into it and its a little bit tl;dr. But in general I felt like this structured tournament really suited me.
Day 2 is a blur, I was still on a high from the highroller win, but now starting to have big mental doubts. Why had I not asked Bryn for a deal Heads Up? Was I scared that he would say no and my ego would be bashed up abit. Was I scared of a good reg basically telling me he didn't think I was good. I go through so many different emotional ways. Was I scared to report publically that I had given Bryn a little bit extra cash in the negotiation? Did I want to pretend to Bryn that I was 1/2 as gangster as him. Whenever I went to a new table people would congratulate me on the score or on the good year. But deep inside the whole not approaching Bryn heads up was really getting to me. I went to the bar, got a glass of milk and decided to try and blank it out and concentrate as much as possible.
I was with Adam Reynolds on the table, one of the nicest guys I've met and a really good player too. By the time we went to Nandos for dinner I had moved my 30k starting stack into 145k. Like I said the day is a huge blur, but I remember calling the big blind with KQhx, check/calling AQ4hhx
turn going check check then c/raising a blank river and getting AA to fold from a young guy that I felt was really wanting to make the next day and this was an obviously big day for him and he wouldn't call with a range that wouldn't bet the turn.
One hand where I may have got "owned" was against Billy Chattaway, he had played tight and didn't seem to want to play big pots against me. I raise QQ and he calls button and bb calls. The flop is J22ss I have
. I decide to check and call when billy bets. The turn is a
and it goes c/c. the river is
and I checked and he interestingly checked back 99.
Anyway the day was abit of a blur like I said, I 4x pot overbet on 3 occasions vs very capped ranges and managed to make day 3 with 194k.
Day 3On day 3 my table draw was pretty good. I had lots of short stacks who were mainly weak players that I expected would be aiming to fold into the money. One obvious problem would be that Ben Vinson would be on the table 2 to my left with a top 5 stack. Anybody who knows Ben knows he's hyper aggressive and anybody who doesn't know him knows he's hyper aggressive. So I went into the day just trying to preserve my stack around the bubble and taking as much spots as Ben would let me. 6th hand in, Ben's raised the first 3, I get AcKs, I open to 2.4x and he 3bets me. I have around 50bbs and a legit tough decision. I think calling here isn't going to be great as he can empty the clip and I'd rather lower variance and not have to call down on non favourable boards. Many people 4b/call here, but I think with the field/structure/perceived edge, getting it in here, or allowing him wiggle room would be a disaster, and as brilliant as a 120bb stack would be, the £6k min cash is a bigger one than normal and a big consideration, especially as I was around 12/50 at this point. So I jammed and he went into the tank, I'm not sure if it was hollywood or not, but when he didn't call in 10-15 seconds I wasn't too worried whatever happened.
We end up in the money and Ben mostly stayed out of our way. After the money I played a hand that I thought I'd later go on to regret.
I can't remember the blinds, but basically, Fred Wise limped the button, I complete the sb with 63 (big antes) and Louise Duffy, owner of Hostel Bookers checked the big blind. The flop was 754r, I decided to lead, Louise made a very small raise as if she wanted to get a free showdown or river, Fred folded and I decided to 3bet the flop. She called pretty quickly and I led big on the 7544 turn, she took a while and jammed. I was getting a really good price, I'd deliberately used a sizing that would leave a small spr on the river hoping she'd call twice rather than call then fold. I went through the hand for around 5 minutes, I feel like I definitely overthink spots sometimes, but I just don't like paying people off. Eventually I just gave it up and she mucked. The hand was in my mind for the next hour or so, but when she busted she kindly told me she had 54 which perhaps gave me an extra spring in my step for the rest of the day. We were down to 3 tables, two tables, one of which I was on were soft and the other one had 9 pros on. I was really happy with the situation and then Christian (best tournament director I've seen fwiw) told me in his hilariously smooth Italian accent "Leeeeeeeeonard, table 26".
Getting there it was obvious this wasn't going to be an easy table, but I had a lot of confidence at this point, I knew I had played well for 2 days straight and coming onto this table and battling was the stage of the tournament that I was at.
I can't remember so many different pots, but I'll give you two pots that I remember losing.
I raised UTG (I'll guess 2.2bbs) and Jamie Roberts in the next seat 3bet me. I felt like his 3bet range would be really polarised and have hands like Ax whilst not going wide for value, basically having way more bluff combos than value combos. I imagine he peels AK/JJ/TT very often, but for example wouldn't be super surprised to see him 3bet a hand like A8o. So I peeled KhQh after a lot of deliberation. In previous spots in this tournament I had 4bet with the intention of folding AQ/AK/KQ but the sizing here was a little smaller than usual so I decided to see a flop.
The flop was t22 and I taked around 20 seconds (it's a long time!!) before checking, he cbet and I tanked again and decided to raise. In this spot I was basically trying to represent a slow played made hand, basically an overpair that was deciding whether to c/call down, lead or check/raise. I don't think he expects me to do this as a bluff very often, but this doesn't really matter, if he has AA/KK/QQ then he is going all in. If he doesn't he will fold, it was that stage of the tournament and that stack size, so I was trying to make an exploitative adjustment to his percevied bluff heavy 3betting range. I obviously have perfect blockers and reverse blockers to Ax hands. He tanked a little bit and then jammed and said he was surprised I folded.
The second hand is a really interesting hand. Leo McLean was on the button and playing very, very tight, there was abit of a joke on the table, including Leo himself that he was the nit. I felt that people we're opening his big blind very often, so I decided to not do the obvious thing, but try and "steal" his button instead and raised with A5hh, this may sound like a standard open to many, but I was trying to play very solid and stay out of big confrontations. I had increased my stack throughout the day without all ins to over 600k from the 195k that I started with. Jamie Roberts elected to peel this time and Ben Warrington called out of the big blind.
The flop was 643hh Ben lead into both of us, which I found quite weird, he had c/raised draws previously and shown them down and there was a lot of talk about him "hitting his gutshot" so I was pretty certain he would c/raise his very strong hands here so when he led I felt like he was pretty weak. I deliberated between raising, hoping he'd click it back and then jam over the top or calling. I didn't want to raise and he overjam a hand like pair+flush draw so elected to call, thinking he would represent cards that improve me, but would seem to improve his percevied range more than mine. Jamie then quickly came along too which was surprising, I gave him basically weak overpairs as an estimated range.
The turn was
and Ben checked to me, I quickly bet big, Jamie sighed and folded and Ben called within 15 seconds or so.
The river was the
and Ben checked and I bet 172k, it was by far the biggest bet I'd made all tournament, I really thought it would be hard for me to have a bluff here a lot of the time and I felt his range was weak. I wasn't sure if the king was a good or bad card to be honest, I also wasn't sure what sizing to use, eventually I did decide on the "bomb" but he had chunks and felt like at the time he was abit stationy and may just shrug and call.
Anyway he called and I went down to 295k to end the day after being at around 600k. We were down to the final 16 and I was 13th in chips. Extended my hotel and told Tudor via whatsapp that kidcardiff was a dolt for calling me.
Day 4Day 4 was the tale of the two tables. We had one table with alllllll the chips and one table that had all the shorter stacks. Fortunately after a while I was moved tables to the slightly softer table and started playing more aggressive, the table joked that I had was hyper aggressive, but I had honestly just got a few good spots/card. Amadi17, probably one of the best online regs raised the button to 24k at 12kbb (4000 antes) and I 3bet to 84k. He called and folded to my 51k cbet on A52.
The Spanish guys have this huge thing about Raul. They love Raul and they never fold 77 and if a 7 ever comes on a flop they all smile and laugh. I love it and always pretend I'm repping Raul against them or if a 7 comes I pretend I just want to fold and get on with the hand. It was a common theme throughout the week. Anyway very next hand Amadi raised the cut off to 24k, I had just 3bet him the hand previously with AQ and now had TT. We both had 500k which was 100k less than average. I would typically make it around 62k with my entire range here, this gives him a chance to 4b/f and for me to have a 3b/5 range and also small enough so I can potentially call a 4bet. I decided to make it 77k, he started to tank and I said "Raulllll" he looked at me and went all in and I turned my cards over in the "I gotcha" way and he had 99. He said afterwards if I'd made it a little smaller he would have peeled, so I had 1m chips and was feeling very good. We went down to 11 players and there was a couple of short stacks that we were waiting to bust, but with the blinds so big and playing short handed we couldn't really wait around. I tried to push the action as much as possible but ran into some bad spots. One hand was really interesting where I got owned by Luca.
I raised UTG1 and he called the big blind. The flop was Jh9h6s and I had AhKx, I cbet 28k, he raised to 78k. I tried to give him some hands he'd do this with, definitely, definitely not Jx, 9x. Potentially 6x that didn't want to get barreled off its showdown but more likely a hand like Q8, T7 that couldn't c/call but his range would improve as we went down the streets so I didn't really fancy calling the flop. I decided to raise to 156k and he pretty quickly went all in for 600k. I folded and he showed AsQs which was a really gutsy move. I didn't feel too bad about the hand, sometimes you get owned, I'm in the last 11 of a WPT event in the best structure you can imagine, of course there will be good players and of course they will outplay me sometimes. We eventually got to the last 9 players and the unofficial final table.
The very first hand, Tamer Raised UTG. I decided to call UTG1 with 99 and everybody else folded. Tamer was 2nd in chips and playing a lot of pots previously. He checked the 522 board and I bet. He took 45 seconds and called. I checked back the T turn and then on the river he overbet the pot. About 270k into 200k. I was really, really lost, there was evidently ICM pressure, but I just couldn't put him on a bluff. He's very, very tricky and checks all parts of his range. I decided in the end to fold. The unofficial final was played in two ways, the big stacks had 70+ bbs and wanted to be around for the televised 6 handed final and the short stacks were reguarly going all in and putting pressure.
I had around 600k and was 6th in chips, I then played a pot that I was super unsure about. Matas an incredibly aggressive Lithuanian kid raised to 50k in the cut off at 20kbb, Tamer flat the sb and I called the bb with KQ.
The flop was q32 and I c/called.
The turn was
which brought a flush draw, I checked and he bet 209k into 270k pot and i had 465k total. Very, very weird. I thought he was trying to manipulate my stack so that I had to fold turn due to icm, but I very, very much doubted he would/could bluff the river. I called planning to always fold the river, but I was 99% sure he was beat and wouldn't bluff me.
The river was the
and he took 2 seconds and went all in. Why had he gone all in so quickly? I had heard Ben Warrington, who I was now sitting next to and chatting a lot with mention that he had called me yesterday in the A5 hand because I had acted so quickly on a street. Was this the live pros tell that could hand me the biggest pot of the tournament and put me 2nd in chips? I tanked forever, there was over 1m in the pot and it was 250kish for me to call. What could this crazy Lithuanian kid have? Could he really expect me to fold here? My range for getting to the river is KQ, QJ, 33, 22, AQ. I tanked and tanked and eventually folded.
I was now 9/9 and likely to come 9th. We had a break, I regrouped and came back fighting hard. I won a lot of small pots, I think in general my grasp of who was raising too wide in certain spots helped and I manipulated stack sizes a lot with 3bets. I had gone back from 250k to 835k without any showdowns, basically as I had done every day and had made the final table.
I went to Nandos to eat alone afterwards, calling my girlfriend, best friend and parents in the car park and speaking about the achievement. I have escaped any live success thus far in my career, granted with small volume, but it was always something that those closest to me knew I had my biggest doubts about. Ingrid always asked me before I went away "are you sure you want to put yourself through this again? It always takes you weeks to get back to normal" my parents reminded me to just have a good time and my friend told me no matter what had happened the year had been great. They were now congratulating me about back to back final tables, and just being able to share the success with them was a feeling that I can't really describe, pride from those around you is such a great feeling and it made me really want to support others in the future, just one message from somebody you don't know wishing you good luck is such a big thing.
Anyway I get into Nandos and Ben walks in. I had gone from calling him a "dolt" on whatsapp to Tudor after sitting on the opposite side of the table to him on day 3, to really enjoying his company on day 4. I asked him to join me and we chatted for the duration. We both are very similar, we have had troubles with ego, Ben is a little older than me, but told me about previous encounters he had had with his ego that set him back. It's hard for people to really have such a positive first impression with me as generally I'm extremely cynical, but Ben genuinely comes across as a really great guy and I can only look back and sigh at myself for making such assumptions when describing him to Tudor. Just because somebody makes a call against me that vs my actually range may not be profitable doesn't mean its a bad call. Maybe he knows something that I will realise in 4 months or learn in 1 year and just outplayed me, this is very likely the case and in the future when being analytical I'm so focused to make sure I leave all emotions aside and work out why somebody did something and what I can learn from it.
I went back to my hotel and struggled to sleep. All the Thursday nights grinding the 11cubed, all the Mondays getting back after the Sunday slog and making sure I'm prepared for the big 22 is all about days like tomorrow. Tomorrow was going to be the WPT final table, televised, commentated by the legend Mike Sexton, hole card cameras, interviews, pictures, the works. This is what we live for.