Blackpool gukpt day one, Friday 14th November
It's bad news from Blackpool unfortunately, bust just before the end of level five in a pretty pure cooler.
Before that major pots are:
Hesitant raise to 500 from a player who has been raised fairly instantly with big hands, quick call from the button. I decide to squeeze
from the small blind to 1725. Initial raiser folds, button calls. Flop is
. I bet 1850, he fairly quickly calls. Turn is
. It feels that he can never be strong, and either has a draw or a hand willing to call one but not two, so I make a rare decision to bomb 80% pot and bet 5800. He folds.
200 call from mp player, I raise 9h7h on the button. Maudlin calls the big, mp
limper calls. Flop is
. Checked to me, I check. I have uk tourney history with maudlin to the extent that he is more than ready to call me in decision spots. Turn is a big card, giving me 15 outs on
. Maudlin leads 1050, limper calls, I raise to 3800. Maudlin calls quickly in a way that says he is not taking any rubbish, but also that he is almost definitely a 100% bluff catcher to a river bet. River does not improve me, but is
, which will obviously be of some kind of threat. I feel that there are two options. The first is to bet 25% pot to represent either value (as if acknowledging he will not like the ace), or that I have backed into one pair of aces. The second option is to bomb big. Given he is in theory looking to call me, I think the mistake would be to make a standard 50-60% pot bluff sizing, and invite him to semi-hero with his bluff catchers. I think there is a lot to be said for the 12k bomb, and I would do so in a cash game if I felt the situation was the same, but decided to give up to preserve a good spot in the tournament. He wins with
Exit hand: 100-200 (25)
I raise the cut off with
, as the big blind has just lost a big pot. The small blind, who has played passively, calls. Bb folds. Flop is
, he check calls my 625 bet. Turn is
to give me the second nuts. I bet 2k from a 18k stack, he check raises to 5k.
The sizing looks strong, I would say aj occupies 20-30% of his value range and he is rarely bluffing. If he can make a big fold, it's not a standard decision, but I feel he gets in a lot of his value check raising range. I actually decide to make it a fishy 9400 to get it in in two steps, which I think is fine. He thinks for long enough before shipping to make the situation feel even better, but is hollywooding (fairly so) and does indeed have
Exit stage left. A shame