Ladbrokes Poker Cruise - My MAIN EVENT REPORT

[mrmuzeman]

If youre not interested in poker and the analysing of hands and mechanics of a tournament in full flow, look away now! Then again what are you doing in a poker forum if youre not so read away!

Seriously though I hope people enjoy reading this as I had a lot of fun writing it and re-living the tournament mentally as I wrote the report. Its very very long (longer than my essays used be at Uni thats for sure) so ive posted it up in seperate bits hour by hour to make it easier to read

(well actually Alien posted it up for me as I was having problem copying it from Microsoft Word where I wrote it, thats why every post says 'edited by Aliensyndm' at the bottom if anyone was wondering!)

[mrmuzeman]

Main event Overview

The main event began on Sunday at 12pm and all 325 entrants were scheduled to play for a full 10 hours of gruelling poker. The field was filled strong mainly with poker professionals, both famous and online, as well as part time players and a handful of chancers. Due to the number of players in the main room there were no spectators allowed unless you wanted to look through the many windows!

The tourny structure was excellent. 10,000 starting chips with blinds starting at 25/50 (which is the same structure as the World Series main event). Also rounds lasted 1 hour so there was more than plenty of room for playing poker and not a crapshoot style all in fest was in sight. There was around $1.8million in the prize pool and the top 65 were paid, starting from $5,500 up to $371,000 for the eventual winner.

[mrmuzeman]

My seating draw and table

I was drawn in seat 8, Table 4. Being a low number table I knew that even if I made the last 40 I would never have to move so I made myself comfortable! I looked at the players on my table to see what I was up against. I only recognised 2 of the 9 opponents which was both a bonus and not so. It would have been nice to have a Devilfish etc at my table but then again they are great players so I guess not! One of the two I recognised was due to his Ladbrokes profile not because he is outwardly famous. His alias was The_Pro, he is from Israel and I know he has won big tournies winning hundreds of thousands of pounds so I would do well to watch out for him during the next hours. As a side note I met him a bunch of times around the ship afterwards and he was a really nice guy as well.

The second player I recognised was in seat 1 and was Tony Jones aka Spider99 aka 2005 Ladbrokes Poker Million champion. You may remember him winning a million dollars in the surprise heads up match against Helen Chamberlain televised on Sky Sports (A surprise due the quality of players in the field). I classed him obviously as a decent player but nothing to be worried about as he seemed to have a lot of luck in the poker million and I knew he wasn’t a pro. It was fun for him to be there though as I had watched him play on television and cheered him on as the unknown outsider back in the summer.

The other players consisted of 4 unknown Brits but all middle aged so no need to worry about any hotshots there! The other 3 were bloody young gun Scandinavians though. Scandies by nature are loose and aggressive and tough players as a rule. All 3 looked like they fancied themselves immensely with their spiky gelled blond haircuts, medallions and ripped clothing! Shuffle up and deal!

[mrmuzeman]

The 1st hour


Ok my gameplan was to play super tight in the first two hours and straight by the book. No special plays, stealing or sneaking around. I was mucking anything other than a pocket pair or AK, AQ unless I caught a nice suited connector such as 76s and the position and price was right. The way I saw it you can only get knocked out a long tourney near the beginning and you certainly cant get anywhere even near winning it. I wanted to see how the other players were playing and form an opinion on whether they were tight/loose to help dictate my play later. Also the blinds are so small they are not even worth stealing. As I sat I calculated that even if I folded every single hand in the first 2 hours I would still have over 9K of my original 10K starting chips (as in a live tourney you will see 20-30 hands per hour).

To be honest during the 1st hour I can hardly remember playing a thing. I think I limped in with pocket 4s at one point! Tony Jones doubled through with some impressive play hitting a set of 3s against a scandy holding KK during the first hour and was chip leader with around 20K at 1 hour completed and got a special chip leader t-shirt he had to wear! I liked the way he played the hand calling a practical all in after the whole board was out (which was a moderately scary board) and his play went up in my estimations from that. The general play was tight with a lot of raise it and take it going on. I noticed the Scandy player directly to my left was in a lot of pots though and playing well increasing his stack steadily. I had him down as a very loose but good player from this.

[mrmuzeman]

The 2nd hour

For the second hour the blinds rose to 50/100 and I picked up my first real hand – AA. 2 big red Aces. I was under the gun (the first player to act before the flop) and had to decide how much to bet. I figured that 400 was a fair bet. As I was out of position I didn’t want any more than 1 caller here so 500 crossed my mind but I thought that might spell out my hand too much. To my surprise (as there had been a lot of raise and take as I said) I got 2 callers. The loose Scandy to my left (*sigh*) and the next loosest player on my table from the button. So im out of position on the flop against the 2 loosest players at the table but cheer up you’ve got AA my boy!

The flop came a terribly awful conjoined flop of 7 8 9 – All clubs. Probly the worst flop possible barring putting a picture pair on the board (eg. QQ5). I had red aces so no nut flush draw for me. I had quite a decent decision to make here. There was 1350 in the pot so if I were to bet id have to make it 1K minimum but maybe even as much as 2K to take the pot right there as that’s a very scary board. My problem here really arose here though from being first to act against 2 seemingly loose opponents. You cant go through your poker life worrying about the nuts or near nuts but this flop was stupidly draw flush/straight draw heavy with a very real possibility of someone beating me right now. 65 or J10 has the made straight, 2 clubs has the flush, a loose player sneaking around with 98 or 97 has 2 pair not to mention a set of 7s, 8s or 9s. Also if I bet I may get called or raised by any of these hands PLUS any 10 for an open ended straight or an Ace of Clubs searching for a flush draw.

All in all I weighed it all up and pretty much conceded the hand right there by checking. Id wasted a mere 400 chips which didn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things and figured I could get my money in, in a better spot later. So many cards hurt me on the turn and what do I do then with players to act after me? The Scandy to my left bet 1K and the button called so I folded. It went to showdown and the Scandy had QQ (with Q of clubs) and the button had 97s for 2 pair. I was slightly annoyed at having to muck my first real hand but it proved a good decision and I still had about 9.3k or sumthing. I limped with AQ and the flop was no help and that was the end of the first 2 hours and a 15 minute break. Phil Taylor (the world champion darts player) was first out the tourney - 150/1 my arse.

[mrmuzeman]

The 3rd Hour


After my Coke break (not the powdered drug but the canned sugary kind) I returned to play the third hour to blinds of 75/150. I decided to use the information gained during the first 2 hours to my advantage now. The loose Scandy directly to my left (who id been chatting with earning a bit of rapport and was a nice guy) I wanted to put him straight to let him know he couldn’t push me around and make me lay down hands. Also I noticed that Tony Jones, chip leader, was playing very tight since winning his big pot and he was only three places to my left and I fancied nicking his big blind a fair bit. Both of these ideas came into fruition in the next hour….

I entered a pot with the loose aggressive Scandy almost straight away. Everybody folded to me in the small blind. I looked and saw 74o but I didn’t care much as I thought this might be the opportunity to show the Scandy what should and shouldn’t happen from here on in so I limped in and he checked. The flop came something like K 5 2. I had missed but checked intending to raise him when I knew he would bet. He bet 225 as hoped (he had a habit of adding a random 25 to all his bets – maybe some Scandy mathematical thing I don’t know!) so I check raised in Scandy style for a further 525 to 750. I knew he thought I was tight and he knew I thought he was loose - and he would be right, so he folded figuring me for AK. I mucked and let him think he was right and long may it continue.

Soon after I picked up A7o in the cut off (which is the seat before the button). Everybody had folded to me so I figured now was the time to pick on Tony Jones’ big blind as I had planned. I like stealing from the cut off as it tends to earn more respect than stealing from the button where people always think automatically that you are on the steal. I tossed in a 500 chip silently. MISTAKE.

I didn’t know this (and I learnt it isn’t the case a lot of the time) but if you don’t declare a raise you are in actual fact only calling. The small blind piped up that id just called and I was saying to the dealer surely the fact I bet 500 means im raising to 500 but apparently this isn’t the case (Jezza later told me it is the exact opposite way in Scotland and if you put 500 in, it means 500). So I’d called with A7o – great, brilliant. AMATEUR! The small blind called and Tony Jones checked. The flop came something crap like 9 6 2 and they both checked to me, so then I held a 500 chip in the air and announced louder than normal, ‘I bet 500’. They both folded and I showed my A7o. I figured since I was playing very tight in general I don’t mind showing lesser hands than I would normally as it might work in my favour in the future when people think I’m on the steal but I’m not.

I picked up my second real hand near the end of the 3rd hour – AK of clubs. Everyone folded to the small blind who called, I didn’t want him to flop something for nothing so I raised a further 300 to 450 total and he called (he was a Scandy, course he called). The flop came A 10 5, with 2 spades, a nice flop for me. He checked and I bet 700. A nice bet but with a pot of 900 it doesn’t necessarily indicate any real strength which was fine as I had a strong hand and quite wanted him to call. The reason I still made a decent bet was because there was a flush draw out and if he holds a 10 for middle pair or KQ, KJ, QJ kind of hand he has a straight draw. And the last thing you want is a Scandy turning a monster on you for free, oh yes. He quite quickly called, so I put him on a probable draw and maybe, just maybe, a lesser Ace. The turn was a blank and he again checked so I bet 2K into the pot of 2.3K and he folded. Nice enough I thought and my stack was about 10.6K at the end of the 3rd hour.

[mrmuzeman]

The 4th hour


The blinds were now at 100/200 and I played 2 hands of note this hour, both of which I lost.

The first was with the absolute monster starting hand of 76s on the big blind. Im pretty sure 76 is the nuts preflop isn’t it? The button had called and the short stacked Scandy who id won with AK above called also. I contemplated raising here to take the 600 but then I thought about it and thought this is exactly the sort of hand I want a flop with so checked to see a free flop.

The flop came 8 3 3 rainbow. So id missed BUT a good opportunity to bluff the pot here. The small blind checked and I plucked up and tried to look quite amateurishly excited about the flop (not in a stupidly overstated way though!) and bet 500. I figured I would very likely steal the pot there as I really doubt that flop has hit the player who called on the button. He folded as expected but then the short stacked Scandy check raised all in for about 2K. So he had the 3 then I guess and I had to fold. I still maintain for sure that those kind of flops are great for betting at. Slap on the wrist!

I picked up AK in early and opted to bet 700 for a nice raise of 500. Id seen raises to 600 getting folded round so that bet was fine. The problem came when the Small blind re-raised to 1.5K. I was pretty sure he was an amateur player and not one of the many pros and he’d been playing pretty tight so his raise certainly commanded some degree of respect. A raise from the blinds is almost always a very strong move I think as you know you are to be out of position for the flop yet still happy to raise. Note also the raise isn’t that large. Its only another 800 into a 2.4K pot and is essentially a value re-raise with what would seem to be a big hand. He’s not trying to chase me out here I don’t think with that raise. I put him on a premium hand. I have to call though as I have position on him, the pots offering me 3/1 odds and if I catch an Ace or King I’ve most likely got him (unless I’m unlucky and he’s got AA). I called but didn’t re-raise because I had position and although AK is a big hand I had the feeling he wouldnt lay down if I re-raised and I could be facing a coin flip for a lot of chips.

The flop came down 3 rags and he bet just 1K at me. That’s a pretty weak bet there I thought, maybe Jacks trying to feel out where he is at or an AK like me. There is of course the probability that he wants me to raise so he can come back over the top or maybe he genuinely was weak or just a poor player, I simply wasn’t sure. All I did for sure know was I was sitting with Ace High and if I raised it would have to be big, probably in the region of 4K+ to make him laydown. With a large stack I may well have bet 5K here to put him to the test but with just 9K behind me I didn’t feel happy committing that amount of chips on this bluff, especially as I thought he may have something like JJ or QQ. So I folded. I’m not sure if I played the hand that great or not and if anyone wants to comment on that id like to hear what they have to say. I think I was down to around 7K after the 4th hour here so not a very good hour.

[mrmuzeman]

The 5th hour


After the 15 minute break I returned to blinds again of 100/200 but now with a 25 ante. This was now more in stealing and get busy territory. With an ante from each player your basically getting an extra big blind or so of money in each pot which makes stealing pre-flop a lot more of an attractive proposition for sure. So there was to be 550 chips in every pot before anything had even happened.

I only played 1 hand this hour near the end as I turned totally card dead picking up offsuit crap by offsuit crap followed by much much better hands such as J2o and 83s (JOKE).

I raised in early position with AQo. Not a play I’m overly keen on with AQ in early position but as I said stealing the blinds was now more attractive and it was happening more often that not when somebody raised pre-flop. I got 1 caller from the button (the guy who I folded the AK to when I missed just above). The flop came pleasing to me - A 8 3 with 2 spades if memory serves correctly. A good result here for me and I’m happy to bet here. The pot contained 2150 and I honestly cannot remember if I bet 1.5K or 2K here. It was one of the other though and both are strong bets. To my surprise I was re-raised a further 3K, so a bet of either 4.5K or 5K by the player. Big surprise to me as I thought he was going to fold there. I looked down at my somewhat dwindling stack and realised I only had about 3.5K left. If I were to play it would be all in for 3.5K and of course he would call the 500 more guaranteed. So this was a decision for my whole tournament.

As it was such a very important decision I took some time to think about this. I think a lot of people would just hump their money in there with top pair, good kicker as it is a good hand granted but I wanted to think about it as to what exactly my opponent might have. I figured there was basically so little chance of it being a bluff there was no point thinking about it. He could see my stack and the raise normal and not overly huge or anything so it looks a legitimate raise to me. Looking at it from his point of view id represented totally good strength both pre flop and on the flop and surely he must think there is a huge chance I have paired that Ace. Therefore presumably he has a hand that doesn’t mind taking that pair of Aces on. I figured his most likely holding was AK, which had me crippled and going out of the tournament. Other possible holdings were AQ (like me) or AJ with the spade flush draw. KK or QQ is possible but I thought he’d probably re-raise pre flop with a big pair like that. Also that’s a very brave move with QQ or KK with an Ace on board and he’d almost certainly just call my bet on the flop.

I basically figured him for the Ace with a King, Queen or Jack kicker. I would like to think AJ would be folded as it should be after a raise, and AQ was more unlikely as it was what I had. He raised really quite quickly after I bet and quite keenly and I could just envisage him turning over AK and me out on my arse and at the bar with my tail between my legs if I called. I remember back to an online tournament I played previously where I had made the EXACT same play as this and called and gone out to an AK. With 2K of chips left it would have been a call regardless as I would have been pot committed but with 3.5K I thought I could still come back due to the kind blind structure. So I folded in slight inward disgust.

As he tossed in his cards (he didn’t just push them towards the dealer) I was very pleased to see the underside of one of them, and it was a King (not a King of spades so no flush draw). So surely this meant he either had AK or KK. One I was out, the other I had him. I caught up with the guy the next day to ask him and he said it was one of those 2 hands but wouldn’t tell me which. Having seen poker players and how they like to boast with their egos I’m 90% sure his lack of releasing that information meant I had made a good laydown.

[mrmuzeman]

The 6th hour


Hot on the heels of my laydown and wondering if Id just made a bad decision seriously affecting my chances, the blinds rose to 150/300 with a 25 ante. With a stack of 3.5K it was getting serious and before very long at all I was going to have to be in all in or fold mode. I needed a hand. And soon.

Unfortunately my previous card dead hour gave birth to another card dead hour and again I was folding hand after hand of absolute pish just when I needed a hand the most. I stayed calm and told myself the hand would come but it didn’t seem to be and I was getting down to near 2K or so, pretty critical circumstances for sure, with only 7 or 8 big blinds to my name. I decided I was going to have to simply make an all in move with something rather marginal to stay alive and just hope for folds or a lucky double through if they called.

I finally picked up something at least approaching a playable hand in A8s. I was in the cut off and Tony Jones was the big blind as I had mentioned before I was keen to steal because I knew he was tight. With everyone folding to me I had no choice but to put myself all in. They all folded luckily and I mucked face up to let them see what I had. I really wanted someone to call when I did get a real hand and if you’re in a ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ call decision with AJ or 99 or something and all the real info you’ve got on someone is that they had stolen with A7o and went all in with A8s I think you’d sway towards calling for sure.

A short while later with a dwindling 2.2K stack I picked up AK of diamonds – hallelujah, praise the poker Gods! I was in mid position and someone had already called in early so more money for me hopefully. I moved all in as you have to. To my surprise Tony Jones Mr Poker Million called my bet and the original caller said that he was going to call if Tony hadn’t. He asked Tony if he had a pair and when I saw him nod for no I knew I had it, we both flipped and he had A10s. Maybe me showing those hands previously had counted for something. The board brought no help for either of us and I lightly hit the leather around the poker table as my AK held up and I had won an all in, well thank god for that. One of the fundamental things I wanted to achieve (other than the obvious) before the tournament began was to win an all in and I had done it and against a reasonably famous player to boot which is always nice.

I picked up pocket 10s and stole the blinds just before the dinner break, and went off to each some rubbish pasta (for Carbo mind energy of course) with around 4.5K but at least I was still in for the fight.

[mrmuzeman]

The 7th hour



I heard there was around 200 players remaining, I kinda hoped there was less! I returned to my slight disappointment to blinds of 200/400 and a raised ante of 50. I think Ladbrokes wanted to start knocking out players more quickly and that would certainly get the job done to a tee! Each round of poker was going to cost 1.1K in total which aint too pretty when your sitting on a 4.5K stack! What I needed was a card rush and to be honest I felt like I kinda deserved one, after all in 6 hours of poker all I had picked up in the way of hands was 1 AA, 3 lots of AK, 2 AQ and 1 pocket 10s. So only one premium pocket pair in a total of 6 hours play.

Oh what had happened to all the pocket Kings, Queens and Jacks I get on the net! I ordered them for dessert after my pasta carbonara dinner is where they went and I got served them in plentiful supply for the next hour and a half. And they tasted sweet.

As play resumed I decided that I was best to be all in or fold pre-flop even though I technically still had 11 big blinds left. Usually I would only adopt the ‘All in or Fold strategy’ when I had 9 big blinds or less you see. But with antes involved I figured now was the time and if I doubled up again then I could start playing. As there was over 1K guaranteed in the pot every hand I felt that was a pretty good strategy as even all folding is a good result for my stack.

Very quickly I found pocket 8s under the gun first to act. I didn’t like doing it but I pushed all in. With 9 players to act behind me it was a heart thumping 20 or 30 seconds or so because I certainly didn’t want a call. I was going to be in a coin flip situation or an big underdog to a higher pair if anyone called for sure. After 1 player on the button had a think and then folded, the blinds threw in and Id stolen the 1.1K. I threw the 8s across for people to see, maybe it would come in handy if I picked up a big pair finally and someone would call me and find themselves in a bad spot.

The next round after paying blinds and antes I was in exactly the same predicament again under the gun but this time with the Big Daddy – Pocket Aces, finally a sweet hand, the sweetest of all! I moved all in again quite quickly. I’m not sure if this was the best play in actual fact. With the nuts I could have raised to something like 1.5K and moved in the rest whatever the flop came. That way I would be more likely to get action and hopefully someone with top pair or a draw would call me after the flop. However, I hoped since there were 9 players to act and I had showed 88 before one of them would call and would inevitably be disappointed with what I would show them.

They all folded. Bugger.

I picked up the Snowmen pocket 8s again but with a raiser in early position before me I chickened out a bit and folded. Id rather move all in with that when I knew I wasn’t necessarily going to be called and I would have been called almost certainly from the raiser. I also picked up 66 which has served me particularly well in the past but again a player had already raised before me. I considered moving in due to the mystical power of the pocket of six but declined. If id called I would have rivered a 6 and doubled up though, I know it!

[mrmuzeman]

The 7th hour (continued)


In mid position another hand came my way and I was hitting a card rush now. Pocket Queens, QQ in mid position. A new Scandy moved from another table due to the depleting field raised to 1.5K in early position, perfect I thought. When it came to me I moved all in without any thought for around 4.5K it must have been. They all folded rounded to the raising Scandy. He thought for a long time and took off his glasses. I sat staring blankly ahead at a particular spot on table with my elbows on the table and my head propped up on my fists under my chin. A kind of Phil Hellmuth style pose if you will. I did it because I could physically feel the pulse in both sides of my neck beating and I didn’t want to show that I was nervous. I’ve looked in the mirror at home before and noticed that it actually is quite noticeable when your pulse is really going hell for leather. He thought for a full minute so I really wanted a call hopefully from Jacks or Tens or something like that. Finally he said ‘Ok lets go’ and flipped over AQo. Disco! All I had to do was dodge an Ace. I believe that the ‘lets go’ comment meant he must have thought I had a pair JJ or below. I showed 88 before, maybe that had an impact – I’d like to think so.

So like my last all in I had to sweat one card out, an Ace. The QQ held up as a 69% favourite the whole way (my AK v A10 was also a 69% fave by the way) and I had a little over 10K. Sweeeet.

The guy who called me with the AQ there I later learned his nickname was ‘Eskobet’. He ended up all in soon after that hand with 66 vs AJ as I took half his chips that hand and he was short stacked. He won the coinflip and went on to finish second in the whole tournament collecting around $250,000 I believe. This, for me, shows the finelines between success and failure in tournament poker. Half the time that guy would have gone out in around 150th place but instead went onto great heights. I’m sure he made some very good decisions after that along the way but still it’s a eye opener to the huge luck factor contained in any one tournament.

Continuing my card rush thick and fast after the AA and QQ I picked up the missing part of the poker puzzle in pocket Kings (or Kevin Kilbane as its otherwise known). It was in early position and I raised to 1.5K, a raise of just under 4 big blinds. A standard raise to disguise my strength. The grey haired Irishman who had been moved to our table a while back re-raised a further 3K to 4.5K. You gotta love that with KK and it folded all the way back to me. I looked at my stack and had about 8.5K left. So I had 2 options. Call and leave myself with 5.5K at the back and move all in whatever the flop came. Or I could move all in now. With the pot standing at around 7K I decided that was a good pot to take down if he did indeed fold and announced all in just ushering my hands forward in a waving motion rather than physically moving the chips in. The players at the table all let out ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ of surprise and excitement at the re-raise of a re-raise. The other 2 reasons I thought moving in pre flop there was the best play was because I was out of position on the flop and I did honestly though I would get called by a worse hand. The pot after my all in contained around 15.5Kish and the guy only had to call a further 5.5K so was getting not far off 3/1 odds. The sort of hands that re-raise there, big pocket pairs (hopefully JJ or QQ and not AA in this case!) and AK will certainly call this.

He thought for a long time. I decided to put my jumper up and over my face to hide away like the Phil “Unabomber” Laak does in the World Poker Tour episode I’ve seen as it was pretty funny when he did it. It provided a welcome break from the tension as the players including the Irishman thinking whether to call were laughing at my protective shell. The photographer came over to take a picture as well, which I actually found slightly embarrassing and I pulled my jumper back down a bit! My actions actually had a dual purpose however, as the pulses in my neck were again beating like fuck again whilst hoping for a call. The very fact he even was thinking for a more than a nano-second meant I had him crippled. He eventually asked me ‘Do ya want me to call ye?’ in his Irish accent. I revealed myself and said as calmly as I could a reassured slow ‘Yep’ then went into hiding again. The players laughed again and one said ‘I bet you didn’t expect him to say that!’. It all ended rather un-dramatically though when he folded and showed an Ace. He said he had AJ – nice hand to re-raise with buddy!

My stack was in excess of 15K and I was feeling mighty hyped up and feeling good.

[mrmuzeman]

The 8th and final hour


Again the Ladbrokes staff raised the blinds quite harshly compared to the early rounds and they went to 300/600 with a 75 ante. Each round of poker was going to cost 1650 chips.

After a couple of rounds folding I found pocket Jacks in mid position and raised it announcing 2K and holding the chips up before throwing them in. The Irish guy who folded to my KK all in re-raise sighed as he looked at his hand. Probably was the absolute monster of AJ again but he folded as did all the others and I collected the pot. My stack had fallen slightly but was decent at around 13-14K.

The very next hand I picked up the Kings again. Excellent. I really was in a card rush totally. Two big black kings, say 2pac and Biggy. I did exactly the same as last hand and held up 2 yellow 1K chips and announced 2K. The Irishman to my left really rather quickly said ‘Im all in’. I was surprised by this but totally dulling my excitement until everybody else had acted. They all folded to me and I thought very quickly about what his all in raise meant. I asked him how big his stack was to find out whether I was to be all in again. I think he said around 17 thousand. So he had me covered but now I knew almost surely that I was well in front and he didn’t have AA. There is almost no way you would raise to 17K after a 2K raise with Aces. You want action, you would surely raise to 4-6K. I figured the most likely hands for him were JJ or AK or some totally average hand and he was making a play at me. So I said ‘I call’ quickly and flipped my Kings face up on their back. He looked pained before showing pocket Queens.

I think I stood up from my seat here although I cant quite remember. I remember saying ‘Sweat the Queen’ once or twice to myself but out loud. Dodge the Queen. Sweat the Queen.

The dealer knocked the table twice with his hand and dealt the flop. The second card revealed one of the two Queens I had needed to so desperately avoid. I said ‘Ah Shit’ but quite quietly not all loud and pissed off or anything. When the turn put a third club on the board for about half a second I thought I had a flush draw for the river and my outs had jumped from 2 to 11 but then the dealer said it paired the board with 7s and I was already facing a full house. So a 2 outer on the river, surely not?

Nope. And I was out. After all my hard work! After the dealer made me count my chips to check I was indeed eliminated I had to get up and leave to a nice round of applause from the table. Before you think anything of that, every single player eliminated regardless of how was getting clapped by their table at this tournament! Still, I shook some hands and The_Pro told me I was very unlucky and well played which I liked. I could tell I had gained some respect as they probably didn’t think much of me when I was short stacked and folding every hand time after time which I felt good about.

I walked out to a disappointed looking Jezza by the door at my dismissal. He had a bet on me - I guess that was why! I heard people by the door saying there were 13 tables remaining, so I’m guessing I came in around 125th place. That means the average stack at that time would have been about 25K and if my Kings hold up I would have had about 29K and gone from 2K to 29K in 2 hours. I went down to the bar with Jezza to get drunk and actually felt not gutted at all just a little annoyed at a missed opportunity. I cant tell you how much I wanted to cash out in that tourney. Still - that’s poker!





Cheers Alien and no changing my grammar!

[aliensyndm]

All spelling and grammar mistakes are the property of mrmuze.
Similarly mrmuze also holds exclusive rights to all poker mistakes in this article.


Right I'm away for a read

[cains]

Great report alien..

Know the poker mistakes is MR muze.. Couse they were all after hour 1. So that mean you wouldnt have played there, if you was in it..

Always fun to read these things.. And just hurt a bit more, when you are not there your self. Bugger... Has to be better this year.. I want to get drunk as well..

[mrmuzeman]

You sound like your already drunk there to be honest mate!