My Results

Let's start positive.  I was responsible for sending three people to the rail in WSOP Event 37, $1500 NL Hold'em.  My ace high flush crushed a ten high flush, a short-stacked AK was disappointed to find me with AA pre-flop and I made a broadway straight to crush two pair.

That wasn't nearly enough though in a field of over 2800 players.  Playing 11 handed (which wasn't too bad really, the tables were nice and big, and pretty comfortable) there were still over 30 tables of alternates.  The floor were struggling, and even made the announcement "Players can you play a bit tighter please, we are getting behind".  I found this amusing, even if some thought it was inappropriate.  Lighten up guys...

When my KK ran into QQ, the poker gods decided to let me go with a brutal Q on the flop.  There was a raise ahead of me and I moved in pre-flop.  QQ put in the third raise, putting himself all in and the original raiser got out of the way. I'd be in trouble with this hand, even with bigger stacks or without the third raise.  Playing KK out of position on a Q high flop against a set of queens - I'd be losing a chunk here even if I can manage to not go broke.

There's no shame in losing as an 80% favourite with 3-1 pot odds (when you include the blinds, antes and the first raise) - what better opportunity can you get, particularly when you don't really have enough chips to isolate the raiser but someone else does it for you? 

So generally I think I did OK, and could stand a fair chance when the cards go the right way - you need a mighty amount of luck to survive in this field.  If I'd won an earlier coinflop with AJ vs KT, who was all in from the big blind for less than double my raise, and then had my KK hold up I'd have been in very good shape.  I didnt try anything fancy, but I didn't really need to, or ever have the ammunition to.  The same went for the other players - whilst I didn't notice anyone who I'd say was particularly bad, nobody really stood out as taking control of the situation or playing a consistently impressive game.

After four or five hours, the boredom was starting to get to some, for instance QTo raising and calling a reraise all-in, but I managed to stay patient.  Considering this is the fastest structure in the WSOP (after they gave the $1000 event $1500 chips, which is just wrong) I just can't comprehend how slow the main event would move....

Last night I went to play the tournament at The Orleans.  This wasn't a great idea as I was still very tired and it's a large field tournament.  In fact I don't know exactly how many players there were as the screens were out of action but at $45 to enter, $20 rebuys and over $4000 for first place, there were probably 150-200 runners.

I really only did this because I needed to stay awake to try and adjust so I could sleep a little bit later and not be falling asleep if I survive past the first few hours in my WSOP event today.  It kinda worked, because I slept right through to 5.30am today!

However last night I just wasn't in a good state to be playing.  The flops looked blurred and I just wasn't concentrating well.  Somehow (a one-card flush with QQ helped me to beat the mighty KJ after it made top pair) I hung on until there were about 60 left when most people were playing with very short stacks.

This was not an enjoyable tournament (although it probably would have been if I was alert, even with the gobby Hawaiian woman to my right, for whom everything in life seemed to be wrong), but hopefully it has helped me to kick the jet lag much better than staying in and snoozing in front of a movie would have done, plus I got the chance to play like a donkey when it didn't matter quite so much as it will later today.  I knew it wouldn't be easy - the Orleans is one of the toughest card rooms in town - but it was nice to get back in the saddle.

I'm leaving shortly - gl me

Finally I manage to drag myself out of the house for a live game of poker and whizz along the A50 towards Leicester. For some reason, my sat nav keeps telling to turn round. It wants to take me on the M6 to the M69 for some reason. This way is never used to be the quickest even before the A50 bypasses (bypi?) were completed and it's never tried it before. I think the heat was getting to it.

Getting to Leicester early is essential. It frequently sells out well ahead of the start time, plus they do a very nice range of burgers. I had the Texan burger this time, which comes with bacon and cheese. This was a change from my usual Stilton and Bacon Burger, which as you might expect comes with bacon and a different type of cheese. There's definitely a pattern, but I haven't been disappointed yet.

I register for the game at just after 7pm, for an 8pm start, and there's already 27 players in, which isn't bad as you can't register until the night of the tournament. In total there were 49 players when it kicked off, with seven tables of seven. The usual capacity is 56 (8 tables) but I think this might have been a sell out at 49 tonight as they were short of dealers. My table kicked off without a dealer and Old Steve (not me being rude, it says this on his name badge!) the cardroom manager had to deal for a few minute whilst they borrowed someone from a roulette table. Not even a mention of us having to go self-dealt even for a while.

It's a pretty uneventful night for me, and I think I'd underestimated how fast this tournament moves, having enjoyed reasonable success with it in the past. Although I couldn't remember if the 150/300 blind level used to be played, or I'd just gotten lucky early on when I'd played before. They coloured up the 50 point chips after level 1 of (50/100) - and then stormed up to 100/200 then 200/400 before things start to settle down.

I survived a potentially early bath when I folded 89 on my big blind after a raise and a call. I just didn't think I had the chips to defend with a very mediocre hand. When the flop comes TJQ I'm thinking I'd be screwed if the raiser had AK. In fact he had QQ but the other player wouldn't lay down AT and the turn K made him the nut straight.

Apart from one situation, where I was fairly pleased I had the balls to make what I thought was the right move, nothing particularly exciting happened. Sitting on the big blind with 1800 chips left, the player to my left min-raises to 400. One mid-position player calls and the small blind calls. I look down at 77 and I really want to call and hope to catch a set, which is probably the best value play. But looking at my situation I decide that it's worth a crack to try and take the pot down right there. I figure the two callers are probably weak, and I have enough chips to stand a chance of pushing them off a mediocre hand by making it 1600 each more to call. My worry obviously is the min-raiser to my left and I don't yet know what that means, but being left with 1600 after a call and not hitting a set - 1500 after the small blind - and blinds going up to 200/400 soon this feels like a perfect opportunity to pick up some dead money. If I don't run into a bigger pair and barring some really manic overcalls, I'm either taking down 1400 uncontested (almost doubling my stack) or going 50/50 with a decent overlay.

So I move in, and all three players fold. I'm back in the game.

Briefly.

I can't get enough chips to deal with the oppressive 200/400 level. I see AJ and raise, to end up racing with a short stack. His K6s gets there and I'm left with 1400.

Then I'm left facing playing the next hand or putting in half my stack in blinds. I take a quick peek and feel that QJ is good enough. The player to my left instantly calls 1400 cold, and the big blind also calls. After they check a flop that doesn't help me, the player who called 1400 preflop bets at the dry side pot and I figure I'm done. He actually has A4 and hasn't paired yet, so I'm still alive but drawing thin and I don't make it. The vast majority of times he'd be doing me a huge favour here with the donkey bet, but as the big blind told me she'd also folded QJ it made no difference.

On the way home at 9.15 - not great, but that's the way it goes I guess..