Back to the Grind (finally, hopefully)

Well I didn't get anywhere in the Broadway comp. I couldn't work out their poster so I turned up at 14:55 expecting the tourn to start at 3pm. It didn't start till 8pm though so I had to hang around in Brum for 5 hours. I went to the cinema on my own and watched Slumdog Millionaire, since I hadn't seen it. I dunno why it's taboo to go to the cinema on your lonesome, it's not like you do much socialising during the film. But it is taboo for whatever reason, and it was a bit embarrassing sitting down in the middle of the cinema all alone. Good film though.

On my starting table in the tourn I had Tony Phillips opposite, Johnny Hewston to my left, then 6 other players whose faces and names I didn't recognise. I started off well for a round or two, winning some decent sized pots to add a couple of thousand to my 15k starting stack (25/50 level 1). Then the wheels came off a bit and I lost a few pots. The table was weirdly aggressive considering the level of fishiness on display, so losing pots was quite an expensive game. Before the first break I had AK twice, QQ and TT, all of which I had 3bet preflop and all of which I went on to lose. The QQ vs Tony was really the only interesting one:

Someone limped UTG or +1, Tony raised to 225 in early position. I found QQ in the small or big blind and 3bet to 825. We were both playing roughly 15k still. Tony called. The flop came 655 with two clubs. I bet 1225(ish) and Tony called. The turn came another 6 making the board 6556. Check-check. The river came a 9 and I bet out 2500 which Tony quickly raised to 7500. Dunno why I bet, I think it's pretty bad really and I ought to be check-calling. Since I'm losing to any 5,6, 78, 99 and any quads I folded. Tony claimed 99 which tbh I believe because it would be a ridiculously sick bluff, one that I know I'd never even think of, although if I'm folding QQ there I'm folding 90% of the time so it would be a very good bluff.

After 2 levels at the first 10min break I had about 9k in chips, having hit a low of 7.5k. There was plenty of crazy stuff going on though, with the standard open fluctuating between 2.5x and 7x and people betting seemingly random amounts at random times post flop, so I wasn't too distraught yet. With the 75/150 level I still had 60bbs and the game suddenly became super-passive, which was nice. In a 6 way limped pot where I had managed to sneak in with A7cc, I hit a flop of 7x2c3c. I bet out and only Tony called. The Ad hit the turn and I bet again, Tony called again. The river came the 6c giving me the 2nd nuts and I check-raised Tony's 3000 bet to 7500 all in. Unfortunately Tony made a good fold his turned straight, but this still put me back on 15k and 100bbs.

Shortly afterwards I found AJo in mid-position and raised to 400. The very loose and passive player on the button called and the very loose and random players in the blinds also called, of whom the big blind had managed to chance upon a 50k stack*. The flop came A87 with 2 hearts and I bet 3/4 pot when it was checked to me. The button quickly called, the way that he was acting I knew that I was well beaten and was done with the hand. The big blind also called, obviously with a draw of some kind. The turn was an offsuit J, which rekindled my interest in the hand. The bb checked and I bet nearly the pot, since I wanted to price out the bb if the button called and I was pretty certain the button had a good hand to pay me off with anyway. The button trebled my bet to put me pretty much all in and the bb folded. I shipped the last 5% of my stack in and the button shook his head and sighed loudly, before calling and turning over pocket 7s for a set. I missed my 4 outs on the river and drove back to Notts.

*Hand 1: someone in mid position makes it 200 at 25/50 and gets called by 2 late position players, me in the small blind and Johnny Hewston in the big. The flop comes down T74 all clubs, I check and Johnny bets 600. One of the callers in the cutoff makes it 2000 or so. Folded back to Johnny who goes all in for 15k. The CO calls and shows K9cc for a King-high flush. Johnny says "good call" and shows Qc8h, which was drawing dead. GG 300bb stack.

*Hand 2: 9983 board in a 4 way raised pot, checked round on the flop. The first player leads out, the 2nd makes a small raise, the 3rd reraises pretty big, players 4 and 1 both fold but the 2nd player calls. The river comes an A, and with about 8k in the pot the big blind shoves all in. It's about 13.5k for the turn 3bettor to call. He dwells for a while then eventually calls. The guy who shoved says dejectedly "Well, if you call you must win." and tables T9o for trips. The caller shakes his head and shows AKs for a rivered pair(hmmm.....???) and leaves. The guy who shoved definitely wasn't pulling a sick, sick slowroll, he really did bet in a way so that he thought if he got called he would be behind, and if it got folded he would have been ahead. Actually it was in some way a bluff, he said he put the other guy on pocket 8s and was trying to make him fold 8s full.

So that's the story of how I mananged to not cash yet another £1k buyin event. Obviously looking at some of the stuff that was going on I still feel I have a big edge in these fields and am gonna try and stick by my £75k in live tourney volume target. Speaking of targets, it's about time I made a start on the 100k hands of >$2/$4 NL cash I want to play this year. So tonight I set up my computer on the kitchen table and fired up a few tables of $1/$2 on iPoker, just to get my eye in. After 108mins and 550 hands, I quit the session $10 up. So far towards that target I have played just 498 hands of $500NL on Betfair for a $400 loss on 4th January. I intend to play a few thousand hands this weekend though. I'll let you know how I get on.

Inabit.