played the £20 single rebuy game at Nottingham Gala last night, as I do every wednesday. since it started late last year I have an outstanding record. before last night it was 11 played, 7 finals and 2 bubbles. usual tactic is look for one big hand against a rebuy merchant (who's not used to being restricted to 1 buy in) in the first three levels, take the top up and start level 4 with 15000+ with blinds of 300/600. cruising to the final isn't normally a problem but I rarely get there with more than average chips and, with the exeption of one 2nd place via chip count my finishing postions have been 5th - 9th. here are some key hands from the tourney
-blinds 100/200 UTG raises to 800. Nice fella from the Westcliffe casino in Essex. I dealt him quads 1st hand and he doubled up so has been pretty busy ever since. it's called in 1 spot and I call with 8,8. flop is 10,8,2. raiser bets 1000, caller calls again. pot is 4700. I decide to make it 3000. initial raiser passes, caller calls again. turn is Q caller moves in last 2000 I call. he has Q,10 and my set holds. and I'm up to 12k ish. on target.
-I've picked up a few small pots and have a healthy stack when 'MrT' two to my left loses his mind and starts moving in ALOT. about 6 or 7 times a round for two rounds. one of these times I have J,J and call. he has K,7 and hits a K so I'm back to square 1. I take my top up and I'm at around 11k.
-my table finally breaks and I have been blided down and am looking for a spot. I've been moved twice as short stack and find A,6 in seat 5 and move my last 10k in with blinds of 1000/2000. I get two callers. I'm up against 6,6 and A,10. BAD SHAPE. I flush with my Ace and triple up.
-MrT from earlier moves to my table and moves in 3 times in 3 hands. I find 9,9 and decide to call and try again. this time he has J,6. flops a J but I turn a 9 and exact my revenge. he's gone and I have a healthy stack again.
-break down to two tables (from 90 initial runners). Im about average, both for the table and the tourney. blinds are 1500/3000. UTG bets 16000 leaving him about 25000 back. passes round to me in SB. I have AK and about 50000. I can either call and move in on any flop, giving him a chance to pass or put it in now on what I am assuming to be a race. I stick it in, he almost passes but correctly decides he's racing with 7,7 and calls comes
(uh oh)
(phew) Im now at about 90k and in very good shape. Im one of two chip leaders at the table and we are down to 13 players.
-Now for the bad beat (it's my birthday, allow me one) there's lots of time wasting and I'm steaming a bit. we've had to agree hand for hand play before the bubble to stop the buggering about. I'm going to the final with a nice stack for a change and I dont want a crapshoot or a chip count, I want to crack on. Still at 1500/3000 the other big stack raises to 18000. it passes round to my BB. I have
. I re raise 25k more, quickly moves in, I beat him in the pot. he has
. obviously he spikes the
. 9/2 bad beat blah blah hand played itself, I got unlucky, no problem there. my problem was some american railbird dude laughing out loud over my shoulder as my aces get cracked. obviously I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of that. He apologised later claiming he thought the QQ had passed and the flop had been dealt 'for fun' and revealed the Queen that would have been. not sure if I believe that but I'd calmed down enough not to get barred for punching him in the chops. the worst part was I looked at the clock to see I was precisely ONE MINUTE into my birthday. had my Aces held up I'd have been going into the final with best part of 200k, about 25% of the chips in play. I'd have been dancing and moving and fancied an easy win. as it was I was talked into accepting a £50 saver for 11th. (I normally say NO SAVERS) whether I'm in 11th of 1st. You have to stick to the principle when you're the short stack but the way I felt then I took my £50 pushed in my last 6k with 9,9 and lost to a QJ to the QQ guy.
I suppose if thats the worst beat I take in my 33rd year I can be happy with that. still £900 would have been a nice present to my self too.
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