if my
one hand at the final table of the Sky Poker £7k guaranteed live tourney, doesn't get lost on the cutting room floor! :-)
Myself and the
Golden one made the trip to the new Gala Bristol Harbourside, along with 138 other hopefuls... 120 of whom had pony'd up the £55 buy-in. The remaining 20 being guests of Sky Poker, who included poker-pro Mark Banin and Sky Poker presenters Jason Barrasford and DP Fitzgerald.
This tournament was going to play a bit like an online 'turbo' jobby... 20 minute levels and no 75/150 or 150/300 levels. With this in mind I decided that there was no time to waste and all 'orphan' pots were going to be mine! Earlier in the week I had gone back to reading a book which I had started a few months ago - The Poker Tournament Formula, by Arnold Snyder - which details the authors strategy for low buy-in, fast structured tournaments... nothing too radical, but it did provide a few reminders for me to focus on.
I think that the trauma of the buffet debacle at the APAT event in Newcastle last year - being too far back in the queue and not getting fed -
has had an indellible effect on
Mr Delicous' psyche... not for the first time since then, he departed the tournament just before the dinner break! Rich, I think you should take a packed lunch next time, perhaps it will remove thoughts of the front of the dinner queue from your subconcious! :-)
If I do say so myself, I think I played the whole tournament rather well. I nicked the first pot, kept busy and maintained a healthy stack right the way through to the money places (18),
without having any real premium hands. The biggest pocket pair I saw all night was Jacks and I had to lay them down to a raise, on a Q high, all hearts flop... I even had the Jh!! I busted the 'bubble boy' with a great read and call... he had minimum raised in early position, folded to me in BB with J8s... I call the raise and check the T82 rainbow flop... he pushes all-in for about two-thirds of my stack. I had seen him make this same play a couple of times and was fairly confident that he had AK or AQ and that my pair of 8s was good. I was keeping an eye on him as I counted out my chips and he really didn't look very comfortable! So I make the call... he actually had A6o... no Ace on the turn or river and we're down to 18 and all in the money.
Then it all went Pete Tong!! Very next hand all fold to me in the SB (1500)... the BB has just 1500 more chips, for a total of 4500... I have 6c8c and put him all-in... he calls with 93o. I catch an 8 on the flop, he finds a 9 on the turn... he now has 9000 chips. Next hand it folds to me on the button, I only have 84o but figure that the SB wont want to put his newly won 9k in the middle without a real hand, the BB hasn't played a hand since I've been at the table... so I raise it up to 10k! :-) Matey pushes the rest of his 9k in, the BB folds... my 84o, even with it's triple-gutshot straight draw and two flush draws, was no match for the pocket tens... he now has 21k!!!
Over the next half-hour or so I get outdrawn by all-in shortstacks three times and get comitted to another pot with my nemesis on my left... the result of this is that with 11 players left I find myself with 7k chips, UTG with blinds at 2000/4000. The blinds are posted, the dealer is finishing the shuffle and just as I am about to push my tiny stack in 'blind'... the TD shouts "Stop!", someone has busted on the other table and we are down to ten.
Now you might think that I should be pleased that I have made the final table, and I suppose part of me was. However, I had a premontion of what was about to happen. If I tell you that the tournament started about 25 mins late and that every break had dragged on 5-10 mins longer than intended, you should be getting some idea of my fears. It was almost spot on 10:00pm when play was paused... by the time the Sky folks had set up tripods, cameras, lights and microphones; then seats were re-drawn (I get seat 2 and the SB!); then Tikay makes the introductions of the FT players... it was about 11:20pm when play resumed.
And so it comes it comes to pass, Final table, just over 2 mins of 2k/4k level remain, 1st hand... I post 2k for the SB, with 5k behind. I resist the temptaion to just push blind, but don't look at my cards until it is my turn to act. All fold to the cut-off, who raises to 10k and the button folds. When I finally look at my cards I see what is probably the worst kind of hand for this scenario - A7o. If the CO has raised with any sort of a real hand then I'm behind and probably dominated with only one live card... but it is an Ace and doubling my 7k (plus the BB) would give me 18k, even I see a better opputunity in next 5 or 6 hands and double my remaining 5k I would probably end up with less chips. So I make the call... A7o vs AKs... no suck-out for me and my TV table experience is over. But I pick up £150 for 10th place, so not all bad.
I had J10 in the small blind, DJ mateyboy limps in from middle position, folded to me, I make a wee raise, BB folds, DJ matey boy calls. Flop AhKh6c. I check. DJ mateyboy checks. Turn - 6d. I check, DJ matey boy checks. River - Qh. I have made a braodway straight, but with three hearts on the board I check. DJ mateyboy checks too, and I flip over my hand. DJ then flips over his hand. A6 for a boat, sixes over aces!! Gasp..I was prepared to pay somewhere around 800 if he had value bet his hand, so this saved me. And I was then able to go on and, well, get busted later.
