Well I made the 2nd day of a 2 day tournament for the first time at the weekend... before exiting in 16th place, of 201 runners, in the English Amateur Poker Championships, pocketing the princely sum of £400 for my trouble. But more importantly earning my second entry into The Hendon Mob Poker Database, catching back up with Rich and in fact just edging him on total prize money by a couple of $s. :-)
The Grosvenor Walsall was the venue for this, the first national championship event of the APAT Season 2. Such is the popularity of these tournaments that people were queuing outside more than an hour before the casino opened at 12:30, in order to get on the Reserve/Alternates list. Indeed our very own 'Golden Delicious'** was there at 11:30 and was number 6 on the list.
** We'll drop the 'Buffet Queue Kid' nickname [for now] following Rich's recent success in Slovenia and two cashes at Barrington!! :-)
As it turned out there must have been 5 people ring up to say that they couldn't make it to the casino, by the time the tournament started 'GD' was top of the list and poised, like a coiled spring, to take his place in history as the 1st Alternate to take a seat at an APAT National Championships... praying for someone to be eliminated before the end of level 2.
The Poker God smiled on 'GD' on this occasion, when the first, and the only elimination, during levels 1 and 2, happened half way through the second level and he was in... And he made it past the dinner break again!
As for the story of my tournament, there's not too much to say really. I had some big hands early and didn't get paid on many of them. I had to lay down pocket Aces on a QJx flop... a young lady had made a 3 x BB raise from early position... one Mid-Position caller, before I re-popped it from the button... the Original Raiser calls without too much thought and the MP caller folds... the OR pushes all-in on the flop... I think QQ or JJ is far more likely than any of the hands I can beat, I tell her that I have a big hand and ask politely if she'll show if I fold, to which she replies "Yes." She seems quite comfortable and in the end I make what I think is a quite easy fold... I flip over my AA and she kindly shows me JJ.
Most of the big pots I won were when I had been allowed to limp in, or call small raises, with things like suited connectors and raggy suited aces... and then got lucky when the flop hit my hand nicely... that is not to say there was no skill involved, in each case I was able to keep the strength of my hand hidden until my opponents had committed large portions (if not all) of their stack to a pot that they couldn't win! :-)
The end, when it came after about 30 minutes of play on day 2, was quite bizarre. I had started day 2 with 60,500 chips, 12th place of the 20 remaining players, the blinds were 3000/6000. After about 15 hands I had posted the binds once and stolen them once and so still had 60,500... 10 x BBs, or an M of 6.7, whichever way you look at it I need some chips soon... four of the other short stacks had already been eliminated!
Day 2, Hand 15... UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 20k... I'm UTG+2, I have 99 and decide that my 60k chips might just be enough to get everyone to fold and allow me to pick up the 29k pot... all fold to the SB, who asks for a count of my chips and then after some deliberation the SB pushes all-in (appx 150k)... "Oh dear", I think... and then the BB, who has about 50k, announces, "I have absolutely nothing, but I could get lucky and more than treble-up." And he proceeds to push his chips in the middle as well... ffs!! The OR then has his few minutes in the tank before eventually folding AKo face-up. "On their backs." announces the dealer... the SB turns over Ako... the BB has the monster 6d2d... and all of sudden my pocket 9s don't look so bad. The warm feeling that had flowed over me didn't last too long... first card on the flop is a King, closely followed by a 3 and a 5... and I'm behind and drawing to two outs... turn is a J, which is no help to anyone... and the river card is a 4, which sends me to the rail, gives the BB a straight and about 180k chips and leaves the SB looking like he's lost half a crown and found a shilling!!!
The Grosvenor Walsall was the venue for this, the first national championship event of the APAT Season 2. Such is the popularity of these tournaments that people were queuing outside more than an hour before the casino opened at 12:30, in order to get on the Reserve/Alternates list. Indeed our very own 'Golden Delicious'** was there at 11:30 and was number 6 on the list.** We'll drop the 'Buffet Queue Kid' nickname [for now] following Rich's recent success in Slovenia and two cashes at Barrington!! :-)
As it turned out there must have been 5 people ring up to say that they couldn't make it to the casino, by the time the tournament started 'GD' was top of the list and poised, like a coiled spring, to take his place in history as the 1st Alternate to take a seat at an APAT National Championships... praying for someone to be eliminated before the end of level 2.The Poker God smiled on 'GD' on this occasion, when the first, and the only elimination, during levels 1 and 2, happened half way through the second level and he was in... And he made it past the dinner break again!
As for the story of my tournament, there's not too much to say really. I had some big hands early and didn't get paid on many of them. I had to lay down pocket Aces on a QJx flop... a young lady had made a 3 x BB raise from early position... one Mid-Position caller, before I re-popped it from the button... the Original Raiser calls without too much thought and the MP caller folds... the OR pushes all-in on the flop... I think QQ or JJ is far more likely than any of the hands I can beat, I tell her that I have a big hand and ask politely if she'll show if I fold, to which she replies "Yes." She seems quite comfortable and in the end I make what I think is a quite easy fold... I flip over my AA and she kindly shows me JJ.
Most of the big pots I won were when I had been allowed to limp in, or call small raises, with things like suited connectors and raggy suited aces... and then got lucky when the flop hit my hand nicely... that is not to say there was no skill involved, in each case I was able to keep the strength of my hand hidden until my opponents had committed large portions (if not all) of their stack to a pot that they couldn't win! :-)
The end, when it came after about 30 minutes of play on day 2, was quite bizarre. I had started day 2 with 60,500 chips, 12th place of the 20 remaining players, the blinds were 3000/6000. After about 15 hands I had posted the binds once and stolen them once and so still had 60,500... 10 x BBs, or an M of 6.7, whichever way you look at it I need some chips soon... four of the other short stacks had already been eliminated!
Day 2, Hand 15... UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 20k... I'm UTG+2, I have 99 and decide that my 60k chips might just be enough to get everyone to fold and allow me to pick up the 29k pot... all fold to the SB, who asks for a count of my chips and then after some deliberation the SB pushes all-in (appx 150k)... "Oh dear", I think... and then the BB, who has about 50k, announces, "I have absolutely nothing, but I could get lucky and more than treble-up." And he proceeds to push his chips in the middle as well... ffs!! The OR then has his few minutes in the tank before eventually folding AKo face-up. "On their backs." announces the dealer... the SB turns over Ako... the BB has the monster 6d2d... and all of sudden my pocket 9s don't look so bad. The warm feeling that had flowed over me didn't last too long... first card on the flop is a King, closely followed by a 3 and a 5... and I'm behind and drawing to two outs... turn is a J, which is no help to anyone... and the river card is a 4, which sends me to the rail, gives the BB a straight and about 180k chips and leaves the SB looking like he's lost half a crown and found a shilling!!!
Waiting patiently for '62s boy' to call... "Do I look bovvered?"So that's poker... the best hand of 3 going in... the worst hand of 3 at the end!
All in all another excellent APAT tournament, well done and a big thank you to the APAT team and to all the staff at the Grosvenor Walsall.
At the end of the day all my old teachers weren't far of the mark with their comments on virtually all of my school reports - 'Tries hard, could do better!"
All in all another excellent APAT tournament, well done and a big thank you to the APAT team and to all the staff at the Grosvenor Walsall.
At the end of the day all my old teachers weren't far of the mark with their comments on virtually all of my school reports - 'Tries hard, could do better!"
1 comment:
I have a small mention on your blog :)
It really was truly a pleasure to be at the same table as you Alan, I have admired you as a poker player for quite some time now and follow your blog.
Hope to see you in Manchester :)
Mair
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