REVERSAL OF FORTUNEAs things turned out I ended up travelling to the Paddy Power UK Poker Tour event in Banbridge last night.
I travelled to Banbridge in awful condition, unslept in 24 hours with the effects of a 2 day binge at the weekend still weighing upon my shoulders. I didnt really feel that I was in any fit condition to play and was giving strong consideration to spending the duration of the tournament sleeping in the car while Ciaran played the game. I'm really glad that I changed my mind and played as I ended up winning the damn thing!
We arrived at the Bridge Club with barely a moment to spare before the closure of registration. The Bridge club was rather poky but was reasonably comfortable overall. There was a huge turnout for the event with an alternates list around 35 players long.
To accomodate the field, tournament organisers Paul Lecky and Ivan Donaghy sliced the blind levels from 35 minutes to 25 mins and also suggested that the dealers be removed from the tables in order to facilitate the extra players. These suggestions were met with general approval however a few player(myself included) objected to the dealers being removed. I certainly didnt want the play being slowed down by the inevitable misdeals and bad game management that would accompany a dealers absence(especially since we now had shorter blind levels to consider).
At any rate the starting stack was 8,000 chips and blinds began at 25 and 50. I plonked myself into seat 1 at my table and Ciaran duly seated himself to my left(the sly bastard).
* Due to my fatigue the exact details of some hands are a little hazy, an 'x' will be used to denote any card ranking that I happen to forget.
My tournament began relatively well and I was up to 11000 chips within half an hour and I was beginning to feel very comfortable. Things started to take a turn for the worse just after the blinds had increased to 50/100.
I picked up the Ks9s two seats of the button and with one limper in front of me I decided to raise to 300, Ciaran folded and a LAG(loose-aggressive) on the button smooth called the raise, both the BB and the early limper called too. The flop landed A 9 x with two clubs. To my mind this wasnt a bad flop. As expected the two players in early position both checked and the action came to me. I decided to check and had my heart firmly set on raising whatever bet the LAG to my left decided to make. The LAG bet 600 and the other two players duly dumped their cards. The action returned to me and I made it 1800 to go. My opponent hesitated and then called the bet. The turn card came another low club. I checked as did the LAG.
The river card brought off a fourth club. I was lookin at my opponent as the card rolled off and he certainly didnt seem too happy to see it. It suddenly occurred to me that he had probably made a very small flush on the turn and that he was hoping that a river blank would see me firing at him. I was pretty certain that if I led into this 5k odd pot that he would call any reasonable bet and I was a little afraid that an overbet would also prompt him to call. I had to convince this guy that I held something like an Ace with a jack of clubs or else that I had been playing a big club draw from the get go something like QcJc. I checked, my feeling was that he would bet his small flush hoping to fold whatever lone medium clubs I could possibly be holding.
The villain paused for a long time looking at his chips and then finally bet 1100 chips. His delay puzzled me and forced me to re-evaluate the hand. I was sure that this was a defensive bet of some sort but my mind began to wrestle with whether it was a pair or a small flush that he held. Ultimately I took too long working out how much I should re-raise him by and ended up folding. For the next few minutes I sat stewing at the manner in which I had played the hand.
I overplayed one or two hands in the next few minutes and my chips began to dwindle a little.
Just as the 50/100 level was ending I picked up Qs4s on the button. It was virtually a family pot as the action reached me preflop so I tossed a black chip into the middle. The flop landed K x x, all spades. I had the second nuts! UTG+1 led out for 400 chips and a player in middle position smooth called. I decided to play this aggessively hoping to drag with the As or the Js to fourth street for a sizeable fee. I raised to 1600 and UTG+1 calls. The next card is another low spade. Bummer! He checks and I decide to check behind. I dont want to juice this any more if he has the Ace and I'm only gonna lose the minimum by paying off whatever value bet he plays on the river. The river is a blank and he bets 3K. I deliberate before biting my lip and apaying the ferryman. he turns over the AsKh. I'm beginning to feel that its not gonna be my night.
Shortly after the button is on me and I get KK. The table folds around to me and I decide to limp because the LAG on the BB has raised almost all of his BB hands. it doesnt happen this time and I end up getting very little out of my cowboys.
I had been playing relatively tight with my stack which has now fallen to about 4000. I decide that I am just going to loosen up and employ my super-LAG style that I often use in cash games.
The blinds are 100/200 and there are 3 callers as the action come to me in the small blind with the 8c4c. I make it 900 to play and everyone folds except the player in the cutoff. The flop lands
J 9 6 with two clubs. I decide to represent my big pair and lead out for 1500 which my opponen calls. The turn card brings a 7 which gives me a double-belly buster straight draw to go along with my club draw. With 1400 chips in my stack I consider pushing but it crosses my mind that my opponent had limped from late position preflop and may well be on a draw himself or that he may have flopped a set or two pair. Either way there is a reasonable chance that he might be happy to check and let a river card come especially as he probably doesnt read me for a draw of any kind. Anyway I check it and he moves allin. I'm absolutely gutted and I toss my hand away. Afterwards he told me that he flopped a set of sixes and that he hoped to get all my chips in the pot on the turn as he thought that I had QQ.
The blinds move up to 200/400 and I have a meagre 1400 chips remaining. I pick up Ad9d in the cutoff and decide to ship it. The BB calls me with AsTs. I cant help but laugh. Nothing has gone my way so far this evening.
The flop lands Q 9 Q with two spades. I have a glimmer of hope. The turn is a blank and the river brings the Qs completing his flush but making me Queens full. I double up. From that point onwards I somehow manage to get my game-face back on and scramble back to 6k in chips by the break.
After te break I get moved to another table where I am seated in late position as play kicks off. I decide that I'm going to rely upon my reads and aggression to carry me through the tournament as my fatigue is compromising my capacity to calculate my odds.
I steal pot after pot and soon I am sitting on 10k with the blinds at 400/800. I pick up AA in the BB and a player in late position makes it 2500. I read him for strength so I let him have all he can eat. He insta-calls and turns over QQ. The flop comes J T 9 and I have to sweat the turn and river cards which both bring blanks, mercifully.
I now have about 20K and am cruising. I get moved again and I just wash-rinse and repeat at the next table. I push players around and make one or two tough calls. I am growing in confidence with every hand--however the blind levels are really starting to apply pressure upon the players.
We are nearing the bubble where the top 18 of the 150 odd runners is going to be paid out. The blind are 3000/6000. The chip leader has about 115k, I have circa 60k and am sitting in the BB looking at the King-deuce off suit. A very aggressive female player with 45K has called from the cutoff position. This has me somewhat puzzled she is rarely in a pot without raising. Te small blind calls the extra 3k. I am very tempted to raise at this point just to get some idea as o what this girl is limping with. The blinds are so big though that I decide to check and re-evaluate the situation once I have seen a flop. The flop comes and King and two low cards both of which are clubs.
With 18K in the middle I decide to lead out for 20K to see what this gal is made of. She thinks for a moment before announcing "All in". The small-blind quickly folds and I'm left with a tough decision. There is a chance that she has limped with a big pair. AA maybe, KK is quitel unlike given the board and my hand as well as the fact that she could well afford to slowplay it. Its very likely that she has a strong drawing hand thats suited in clubs 9cTc maybe or AcXc. Its also possible that she puts me on a weak king what I have and that she is trying to push me off my hand right here. The more I think the better I feel about my chances, so I call her and che turns over the Ac5c --- Brilliant! I have the bitch! Bt the turn brings an ugly club and I am crippled to 15k with blinds of 3000/6000. Mercifully I am in late position and I use that to my advantage and manage to steal several pots in succession. Soon after the bublle bursts and we are down to 18 players.
I batton down the hatches and play ABC poker for the next 45 minutes by the time we reach the final table I have 100K in chips.
At this stage I am very tired. I keep myself awake by voraciously reading every player from the beginning to the end of every hand played at the final table(I don't think I have ever paid so much attention to my opponents in a live game and this fatigue-enforced reading is certainly the primary reason I enjoyed success in this game).
I played very aggressive poker at the final table and had a fairly good fix on where all my opponents were at whenever I got involved in pots with them. When the game got down to the final four I had 2/3 of the chips in play and ran some races to try and end the game(my fatigue was really catchin up with me). I had A8 allin preflop against 55, an Ace on the flop delighted me but a river 5 saved my foe who ended up as runner up in the event. I also raised to 90K(blinds 15k/30k) with KQ and had an opponent call of his remaining 80k with Ax. His ace held up and he doubled up. Eventually we got down to 3-Handed play and I was second in chips with 300K approximately when a key pot developed on my big blind. I looked down and saw 6,2. My opponent called the extra 15k to see a flop. I was tempted to raise here as I didnt really expect my 6,2 to make a big flop. However my hyper-aggressive play throughout(and often with trash) made me reconsider.... this guy had it in him to reraise me allin with a speculative hand if he had any reason to believe that I was stealing. I checked and the flop landed a 6 4 3 rainbow. My opponent checked and I bet 60k. He paused and began counting his chips, my 300k had him slightly covered. Eventually he called the bet. The next card was the queen of clubs. The villain open pushed for the remainder of his chips. This didn't make a great deal of sense to me. I deliberated for a while and eventually decided to call, I was almost certain that he was putting a semi-bluff over on me....he turn over the 7c8c and the turn and river both brought blanks.
When heads-up play commenced my opponent suggested that we deal and that he would concede the plaudits of 1st place to me. I had him well covered with approximately 800k to his 400k. However the blinds had just hit 40K/80K and I was so exhausted at this stage that I readily agreed to the deal.
I was delighted with the win and with the way I had played throughout(especially given my physical and mental condition), the 5000 euros of prize money was rather nice too.
