Luton Festival £1000 main event trip report
The main event in Luton has been a learning experience, finding out amongst other enlighteners that I am not as good at poker as I think I am. How difficult it is to play pots out of position against far better players. and lastly my self destruct button works very well when the pressure is on.
If you don’t like reports that are of the vain “Seat 1 raised to 600 I looked down and saw Kh10h and flat called the flop came…….” Then save yourself the bother of further reading as I don’t know how else to write this.
But I will start at the beginning. I do not usually have £1000 to gamble on a main event tournament but was able to secure my seat with a good result in the Blue Square on line satellite for the more modest £150 (2 rebuys).
I am a regular Sunday / Thursday night player at the Nottingham Gala casino and over the 3 or 4 years I have been playing poker I have made the final quite often and won on more than one occasion. In addition last year I came 2nd For 10k in Sheffield and won the Omaha at Walsall for 14k.
Unfortunately my form for the last 6 months has been very poor, in that time I have finished either just in or just outside the money on numerous occasions but placing no better than 6th in any competition. With this in mind I have altered my game to a more aggressive style and on occasion try to out play opponents on the flop. I think this has had a positive effect on my game, although not financially and I was keen to try out my new found power on the bigger stage.
So the Game plan for Luton was to raise often with a variety of selected cards, call a lot of raises with the same hands and try to outplay opponents on the flop. In short I was willing to put my whole stack on the line in the early exchanges. If this meant going all in during the first level with a weak drawing hand then so be it. I was going to double up in the first hour or go home.
Table 6 seat 4 – I was very happy with my table and seat, mid position and only 2 known faces Mick Magee and Alan MacLean. I was sat opposite Mick and Alan was on my left with which I had no problem, and this was ultimately to be my undoing. I was later to find out that both Wardonkey and JP, fellow blondes and Blue square qualifiers were also on the table
Within 10mins of the start I had raised 3 times and taken some blinds on the 4th time I raised I had the following hand
As
- in mid position I raise to 300 and get 2 callers
Flop
The Big blind checks, I bet 1000 and the big blind calls
Turn
The bb checks and I see no point in betting again. I have no hand on a dangerous board but I am drawing to the nut flush.
River
gives me the nut flush and a lot of possibilities on the board of 6789 K
The big blind bets 800 and I give it the big dwell before re raising to 2500
He calls and mucks unhappily to my flush.
A nice pot and confidence is high! Up to 14k
I continue to raise often and shortly after find AA under the gun. I make it 300 get 2 callers before JP reraises to 2900. It’s a big raise and I really want to smooth call as he must have KK QQ or at worst AK but I am concerned about the 2 flat callers and want the pot heads up. So I move all in. JP makes a great pass and shows KK and as a mark of respect I show my AA. Probably my first mistake of the evening! (Showing my hand)
Up to 18k
Wardonkey if you read about this hand I am sorry to say that when you asked me in the break about what I had I lied. This is the truth (the hand was also incorrectly reported on the blonde forum! The guilt)
Still in the first hour and I am full of confidence I call a 300 raise from Wardonkey with 9 10 in the blinds
Flop comes 7 8 10 rainbow lovely
I check and Wardonkey bets 700…. I call
Turn is a 2… I check and Wardonkey bets 2100… I put him on and over pair but sense he is pressured and move all in. If he calls I still have some outs. If I lose the pot I will still have approx 8k left more than enough….he dwells a while and passes. He later told me he passed AA ….I lied and told him I had J 9….after all we were still on the same table…..in poker who knows?
The blinds have not even gone up and I have 22k I am hitting flops and getting paid poker is so easy ..…right
And then it all started to go wrong. Not the cards, not the luck just the mindset.
Suddenly I realised I was in a big poker game and I was doing well. A lot of money was at stake…50 grand to the winner. I better not make any mistakes. Just sit tight and play premium hands. Wait for Aces and kings…. play pocket pairs….flop a set
So I decide to slow down a bit and play some pots passively hoping to trap. I played a lot of pocket pairs 88 77 88 but never made a set. I played J10 89 65 but I passed to a decent bet on the flop. Don’t get involved says I.
An hour passed then another. People came and left the table and the good players started to build there stacks. Alan Mclean who had sat quietly for the first hour was quickly building his stack. When in a pot he didn’t muck about, it was a large raise and another 4k on the flop without a hesitation. He built his stack up to 25k with consummate ease and I struggle to remember him having a showdown. People just got out his way. It was a class act and I had him on Aces every time…but he never showed
It’s now 11 o’clock, 3 hours later I still have roughly 18k against an average stack of 12k but my confidence has gone I need to get busy.
20 minutes later I was driving home
With the blinds at 100 200 I raise to 1200 with
I hope to take the blinds as a confidence boost, but JP who had limped in under the gun has other ideas. He makes it 3000 to go and after a dramatic dwell and the usual question “how much you got left?” I muck
In the blinds I find 55 and call a under the gun raise from Alan Mclean for 1000. I put him on an Ace something for know other reason than I always put raisers on AK or Ace something
The flop is Q 10 8 and I dwell and decide he has missed and I should have a stab at it.
I bet out 3000 and he calls in a flash. I am a little fazed this was not the plan but I feel if he had AQ KQ he would have reraised and at this point I think I am in front.
The turn card is an Ace and I feel it like a kick in the teeth. I can feel the colour draining from my face and the whole table is looking at me and saying what the **** are u doing in this pot with 55. I try to look like I might have Ace Queen and think about moving all in but the game is up I can’t do it.
I check Alan checks….. Surprising….. he must be trapping me now?
The river is a harmless 6 and I don’t even manage a dwell before I check
Alan moves 15k in to the pot and I pass my 55
I feel regret I should have checked the flop let him bet and raised him all in, I should have gone all in on the turn….I am a fish…..
Still in the blinds I call a raise from Mike Magee with 5 4
The flop is K 8 5 …I check and Mick bets 1000….I quickly reraise to 3000 Mick makes it 10k and I fold
Very next hand I find pocket jacks, I raise to 1000 and the whole table looks unsympathetically at a man on tilt……..I’ve got a hand…honest.
I get one caller a new player who has only been at the table for 10mins
Flop is three rags but all spades.
He does a double check of his hand and moves all in for 4.5K
I put him on a single spade drawing hand… I can’t even remember what suits I have…2 red jacks stare back at me I pause for thought. I reason that he can’t have a made hand and I am in good shape before calling. He turns over
and I am crippled down to 1200 chips
I made sure they didn’t last long.
Having had a few days to ponder my Luton trip I can say I have learned from it. I am not used to such a slow clock and found it difficult to adjust my game, panicking myself into playing hands I should just pass. I do feel better for putting it down on paper and welcome any comments.
If proof were needed that I have learned I found it at the Gala on Sunday evening by taking home 1st prize of £2970 in the £50 rebuy. (well technically 1st as I chopped it with Barry from Sheffield, but I had more chips)
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