Freedom of the Seas docked in St Thomas
Half way through the week I decided to divert to a little cash action and continued to get donked. I lost a chunk with AA vs TT when half the money was in preflop and then managed to lose with QhJh on a three heart flop to Kh9h. It was time for a rethink and a cunning plan was formulated. The Crypto Card room would not let any of the regular passengers onboard in, so value in the card room was pretty thin. However, they had one of those new dealerless tables in the ship casino and I managed to stumble across a load of tourists donking each other off playing $3/6 NL. I sit down and set to destroying them, all was going well until a few scandies from Crypto spot the action and decide to join in. One had been knocking back the beers and started playing pretty wild when the following hand occurs...
I'm dealt 4h7c in the BB and it's min raised with 6 callers... i tag along for the ride and catch a 5h 6s 8h flop. I check (every flop was being raised) and pissed scandie to my left bets a little shy of the pot, he then picks up no less than 4 callers on its way round to me to I RR a reasonable amount. Scandie jams all in without a 2nd thought.... it then goes CALL...CALL....CALL.... (shrug) CALL.... and its round to me... i'm not passing :). Scandie shows a rag flush draw, there's also 1)a pair and a gut shot draw 2) a gutshot draw 3) top pair top kicker 4)two over cards!!.... US tourists playing 3/6NL you have to love it!!
Good news is everyone has a heart so scandie boy is drawing thin.... but manages to peel off his heart on the turn to take down a $2k+ pot.... wonderful! After that I give up and decide to drink some beer and catch some sun. I did play a couple of STTs which were fun and managed a 2nd and a 1st from about 4 or 5 attempts. One hand of note saw ClintonO bust my Aces with 73 os after calling a PF raise for half his stack... bloody fish :) All in all ended up about $2k down for the trip and licking the wounds a little.
Lifes a beach...
Despite the poker me and the Mrs managed to have a great time. The Freedom of the Seas is one impressive ship and highly recommended. Spent some time on some of the most fantastic beaches I've ever been on and generally spent the rest of the week chillin out with the wife and meeting some great people! The grandparents looked after Jack and it was great to have 'week off'.
On return to the UK it was review the bank roll time again. Just before we left I'd withdrawn a load and this combined with the hit from the trip once again left me a touch on the thin side. I decided sell 30% in the DTD Anniversary Cup as a bit of insurance, and last Thursday once again headed up the M1 to Nottingham to start what would hopefully be a 4 day event. I'd had a little bet on Blonde on the number of runners and went over 133 for $50. My money as pretty safe as it picked up a very respectable 189 runners in the end. Think DTD will be very happy with this for a £1k event, especially considering there were other major events elsewhere in the UK. 20k starting chips, 2 hour levels and a slow structure.... I packed my Ipod.
Had a bit of a strange table to start with. Everyone was playing it very cagey and I managed to pick up a lot of pots as I opened up my PF raising criteria. One bloke announced after 4 hrs play that he'd been counting and I'd raised PF 4 times more than anyone else ... I slowed down a little after he said that! :)
I managed to get up to about 40k from a 20k starting stack then spent hours and hours bouncing between 40k and 25k. I hit a bad patch at the end of day 1 and returned for day 2 with about 28k which was a little below average but still no where near any trouble as the blinds were 250-500. I did manage a little luck vs a short stack with QsQh vs AhAd in a Button vs BB battle. It all went in PF and I luckboxed a 9s Ts Js flop for more outs than I can count. 6s did the business on the turn and I was looking to kick on. Sadly it just didn't happen as I continued to hit 40k in chips and then dwindle back. I hit a low of about 10k before going back to 40k again at the start of level 8 and things were getting a little frustrating.
My exit hand was a little strange.... after about 16hrs of play only putting my self at risk once when short stacked I pick up AK in the SB, I'm playing about 35k with the blinds at 400-800 with a 100 ante. The button raises it to 2400 and I re-raise to 7500. He hardly thinks before jamming his 90k in the middle with a flurry of his hands..... I'm 100% sure I'm racing at worst from the way he gets them in. I figure at 2100 an orbit with 27k behind it's probably about time to take a gamble and kick onto the next level... I call..... my read was correct as he turns 66....a 7 T Q flop adds some outs... as does a T on the turn.... but no luck on the river and I'm leaving the table in about 50th (with 18 paid) feeling a little dejected. Don't think there is too much wrong with call, could have maybe been a little more patient but hey you can't win them all.
Me looking a little worried as the board offers no help to my AK (nicked from Blonde)
Congrats to Bernie who finished 3rd, good lad who I met in Tallin in 2006.
