so near but what a great weekend

so near but what a great weekend

ok regular readers of this blog will no doubt recount numerous posts by myself about bad beats and how much i hate poker etc etc well this one is gonna be different so read on and enjoy.

since my holiday trauma i decided that i would not really venture out to play live for 2 reasons. firstly i had won a seat at the sky poker final at dtd on the following saturday and was then gonna be away playing the coral british masters in leeds this weekend just gone so wanted to stay fresh and secondly i did not fancy a whole evening of piss taking by people who had read the holiday problems.

so firstly sky game at dtd. 273 runners gave a prize pool of 55k. fancy me chances as game full of internet qualifiers and some very dodgy and poor players. however this soon changes when i get to my table to see a wsop bracelet winner, 2 high profile pros and a recent gukpt winner, not to mention 2 other gukpt final tablists. FML 273 runners 223 dead wood and i got the table from hell!!!!!!!!!!!!. seated in between the 2 most aggressive players on table gave me little room for manouvre and it was a total grind for 5 hours to get my starting 10k stack up to 16k and very hard work. then this happened im on the big blind with 10 10 and the button(a very nervous internet qualifier) makes it 700 to go on 150 - 300 blinds. sb passes so i flat and flop comes a lovely 10 2 4 rainbow. check and button continues for 1250 chips, and as i cant see a reason to raise here as the board is draw dead i flat call. turn brings the K clubs, lovely i think if he has AK so i check again and bingo he bets 2.6k. i tank for a bit and then rasie to 6k. he slumps in his chair and says ' wow what have i done i cant pass now as ive only got 3k left so he calls and flips 3 8 of clubs over. look again at board and realise the 2 was a club as well as king and yep bingo river is the 9 clubs. lol then very next hand he raises again and i look down at AA so i min raise him back everyone else passes and he ships i insta call he flips 10 10. flop is 2 3 4 turn 10 river J and see ya later. was not too disappointed as never really got into the tourney and was freerolling anyway so called dawn who had come down, se came and picked me up and we went home even though we had hotel room paid for.

so saturday just gone travel down to leeds to play in the coral british poker masters tour £500 main event. 99 regged and fellow forum members roscopiko, madasawasp and full tilit also in game. get off to good start and after 3 hours have my stack up to 34k from 10k and feeling really good, well into game and really really happy with my table as i got 3 calling stations, a regular over bettor who thinks AJ is good enough to flat with after a raise and re raise on 100-200 blind level and 2 ' internet jammers' who have not hit puberty yet but commentate on every hand and basically give their strategy away by their constant banter. take a bit of hit when i raise 3 times with either AQ or 99 and get re raised every time and decide to pass all 3 times, and the nice re raisers kindly show me AK when i had AQ twice and QQ when i had 99- from which i think i grew a couple of inches as i really felt in the zone then. the middle levels of the first day flew by and before i knew we were down to 40 players. got moved tables then which i did not like as i was really comfortable and felt it even more when i saw i had been moved to the 2 chip leaders table, both of who had over 120k when average was 23k!!!!!!!!. also couple of really good players - allen mclean and tom mcdonald also on table so knew it would be a grind. anyway grind away again and just about manage to keep my stack around 25k with some raises and steals and look at screen again to see we are down to 19 players!!! wow had been so engrossed in the game had not noticed people flying out and then looked at the time and it was nearly 1am. tourney director announces next level would be last. kinda thinking just mungle through to next day and then re assess but then decide i want a chance to win the event so pray for some cards. then this happens 25 mins to go and short stack shoves from seat 4 for 9k. i look down at 77 and push all in for 23k. BB tanks for a while and passes 88. guy flips 66 and in my head i pray to hold just once. flop is 2 7 8 all clubs and yep he got the 6 of clubs. turn is 9 of diamonds and now im having kittens cos surely Mrcardguard is never gonna blank the river with so many cards to beat him but halleluhah J s hits river and stack up to 35k. just calming down and stacking me chips when dealer says ' on you sir ' i look up to find under the gun has shipped all in for 35k on 800 - 1600 blinds(and this guy has a wsop bracelet). look down to see 10 10- and the dtd sky game horrors of 10 10 immeadiately flash into my head. have a little think and decide if i wanna win tourney i gotta call as 95% time i will be in front. so i ship to and everyone passes and i pray its a small pair and not 2 overs and yee haa he has 88. flop is 6 7 9 ffs not again but again blank blank and suddenly im on 75k. play ends 20 mins later with same stack and im exstatic as there are only 14 players left and im 7th in chips.

go to my hotel shattered, grab a shower and fall asleep almost immeadiately in my boxers and a tee shirt. then at 4am the fucking fire alarm goes off and the room phone is screaming ' this is not a drill please evacuate'. totally rangooned and nee idea where i am i run out of me room and down the stairs only to realise when i get to bottom that im only in boxers and tee shirt nee shoes or socks. so i turn to go back up and the manager wont let me. ffs i say its obvioulsy some pissed idiots thats set it off and i cant go outside like this. but he wont relent, ffs its my decision if i wanna burn baby burn surely, so outside i go half naked and the lovely staff give me a tee towel and a normal towel to keep me warm- wow . anyways fire brigade come and im back in room an hour later. then cant sleep so toss and turn till 6am and drop off - only to be woken at 6.45am by my mobile ringing. so answer it and hear teamdobbs dulcite tones telling me Mr e is still in his wsop event with 500 left. cheers is say but its fucking 6.45am in morning and i need to sleep. fall asleep again and what seems like 10 mins later maid is knocking and its time to get up and get ready.

so day 2 and everyone decides to give next 4 out £250 so i think ok at least i can say i cashed whatever happens. quickly down to 11 when its my sb and utg pushes all in for 25k. i look down at AQ and call and he flips A3 clubs and board comes Q 8 4 all diamonds weeeeeeeeeeee 2 on turn gives him draw out but Q on river and im up to 98k and 10 left. final table is 9 but 10th gets a grand so i think the small stacks maybe will push so wont be a long bubble and decide to shut off till final. bubble lasts an hour and then its final and i sit down with 82k on 1500 - 3000 blinds and 300 antes - so plenty play and im aboot 6th in chips but next 2 above me are very close also. get really bad seat draw as the most aggresive player by miles who has the chip lead is immeadiately to my right and this proved troublesome all through the final as he entered 85% of the pots with a raise and made it very hard for me to get in first. re raised him couple of times but knocked that on the head when he re shipped me all in and i had to pass 88 even though i was pretty sure i was ahead. final was hard work as the room was boiling and play was very slow. eventually 3 people bust out and we are down to 6. my stack is down to 60k but there is a lower stack and another of around 100k so i still dont panic as i still got fair bit of play. then is happens eddie lunden raises to 8k and its passed to me and i look down at AK. i tank for a bit basically counting my chips and trying to work out if its a ship or re raise and decide to shove. his face and actions tell me im in front and he counts out his chips and sees if he calls the 51k re raise he will be left with 40k. reluctently he calls and i say you got AQ to which he says no worse and flips A 10!!! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for me but short lived as 10 flops and i brick and sadly im oot in 6th and totally gutted.

go straight out to the smoking cage and sit in chair and puff a couple of tabs reflecting on what could have been and also thinking roles reversed i can never call there with A10. wanted the call all day though and as he was tanking i was trying to acf so weak and it worked cos he told me afterwards he thought i was weak and he had me on air.

all in all though i had a great time really enjoyed the game , great structure and proved to my self and anyone who doubted me that i can actually play the game. i did not make one mistake all tourney, i never made a bad call and laid down few really strong hands that were all losing. every time my whole stack was at risk(twice in 2 days - not too shabby) i was miles in front and every time i made a call for a good chunk of my stack my read was good and i was miles in front. playing perfect poker for 2 solid days gives me more pleasure than cashing as i had seriously began to doubt if i could play the game. just for info 6th was £2250.

my appetite for the bigger games has returned and i have decided that i will only play the bigger tournies from now on, aspers £75. grosvna £100 and circus £50 and the rest of the coral masters tour and gukpt tour.

for once this is one very happy poker player and also had some great craic over the 2 days. i had my forum shirt on and i was amazed at how many people came up to me and said ' your cardguard aint ya' and im like yeah how do ya know. most of em had been at our forum championships or have read the NPF. big up to new forum member andy1966 who plays for raise the river, and recognised me and we had great chat and he is a lovely guy- was pleasure to meet him again.

also some of ya may know i used to live near leeds so i know quite a few of the local players and lol when 3 of em came up to me and said ' i seen ya on youtube with that guy doing that dance'. unreal but be assured the NPF is well known and has become a well respected forum throughout the country. fuck me some of the lads down there were still talking about the forum game from feb and all asked when the next one is

ok enough drivel until next time

cgk checking out