I quite like playing the dinky £1k gnted evening games on Crypto. They don't last too long and can see a small but reasonable return to a £10 or £25 buy in. I've won them both again in the past week or two for about £900 total, plus a couple of final tables.
Cash play in Aug got off to the usual bad start as set over set killed me about 5 times in 5 days. MTTs win balance most of this out so no real damage. I fancied a change of scene so decided to take another trip to DTD on Friday for the £75 FO.
It was a little disappointing to see a smaller field of only 63 but not to worry. There also didn't look to be too much value at my table. Barry Neville was 2 to my left. From the table chat and the other faces I recognised it was clear that most of the table had a reasonable amount of experience. I did my usual thing of fumbling chips and spending far to long trying to figure out how much was in the pot (ie more than 2 seconds) and as usual, most had me pegged as a bit of value.
Didn't hit much early doors and the 4k stack was down to about 3k when I picked up AsQh. The DTD structure is a little quicker these days and I didn't have much room for manoeuvre. The usual raise and call with a flop of Ac Jc Ragc sees it checked to me, I bet out and and mateyboy jams... I really dont have enough to pass and make the crying call to see him flip AhJd.... I get very lucky and spike a Q on the turn and from that point start accumulating chips at a rate of knots.
1st hand of much interest sees me with about 10k in chips and blinds of 100-200. UTG raises it up to about 600 or 700 and gets three callers round to me on the button with 22. I flat call and Barry N in the BB jams for about 4k. It's passed round to me and 9 times out of 10 I also pass here but a few thought play into my head...
1: Got a shot at eliminating one of the better players at the table.
2: I think Bazza is capable of a move here with not a lot
3: If I call with 22 now no-one else at the table is going to make a move on me and it sets a wonderful table image
4: If I lose I'm still about 6-7k chips (ave was about 6k)
5: Barry never stops spouting crap and I was getting a head ache.
Point 5 was the overriding factor here without a doubt :o) ..... but point 3 is something I've given some thought to, especially when playing live at a table where no one knows you but they are mostly reasonable, observant players. By making a negative EV play that can not damage your tournament position too much (even though it was for a lot of chips at that stage in the game) it can set up numerous +ive EV situations later in the game when things matter a little more. As it happened Barry had 77 and spiked a set straight off the bat ... so that was that. But the play seemed had the desired effect as much shaking of heads and numerous lectures ensued.
I soon got paid off with a nut straight in a 3 way pot after this and motored up to 20k+ chips in no time. It was time for me to bump heads with Barry again. I'm massive in chips and call a three way limp wit 34os for Barry to raise it up behind. The raise chases all bar one from the pot and I elect to flat call. The flop comes a rainbow 2 3 5. Check, Check and a bet from Barry and I move over the top all in. Barry calls for about 5k more and flips JJ. I can't hit 13 outs twice and my headache is getting worse with Bazza chirping away that he always has a hand etc etc etc etc etc zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
It then turns into a bit of a grid as slowly the field is reduced and reduced. Barry gets moved away and the table descends into a peaceful bliss.
There was one hand that was quite interesting. A few people at the table debated what I was holding and I said I'd blog it this week. I must have had about 12k in chips. Blinds were about 200-400. There's a table big stack who's looking to get in on most pots and he limps in from early position. I find 8hTh in the cut off and I'm planning a raise and pick up my chips. I then glance up and notice the big stack watching me carefully. I figure he's coming along for the ride no matter what I bet and elect to flat call instead.
The flop comes 5c 5s 3c and the big stack bets about 1k into the 1200 pot. I've seen him watching me thinking about a raise preflop and decide to represent an mid-over pair raising him to 3k. He dwells for a while then says something along the lines of....
"You were thinking about a raise pre-flop. You've got something like 77-99"
He then passes A3 face up and the table debates my holding for a few seconds..... I'm not giving any info away so I say I'll blog it. Course this is a mistake as a couple of people ask what my blog is and a few have read it. It's nice when a plan comes together though :)
Barry gets moved back to our table and is chipped and in full swing and full volume. Thankfully he's to my right this time giving the tinnitus in my left ear a chance to improve.
1st thing he says is .... "What happened to all your chips... you had loads?"
I have to remind him that I donated them in his direction about 90mins earlier with 34os. "Oh yeah" he says and proceeds to tell me what an awful play it was. I point out that it was only for 1/3 of my chips and I got my money in 1st with 13 outs twice where as he was calling for his tournament life with an overpair and he changes the subject and talks about himself for a while.
A few minutes later someone refers to me as Wonky. This pricks Bazzas ears up and he asks "Why you calling him Wonky?" .... someone tells him I write a poker blog.....
"How the bloody hell can you write about poker when you don't know bugger all about it?" asks Barry
I just smile.
Fortunately blessed relief is not too far away. By this point we are down to 2 tables and about 13 players with the majority of the chips on our table. Barry and one other guy have about 35k-45k in chips which is above final table average. When the pair of them decide to play a massive pot. I'm not 100% sure on the PF betting but Barry is in position and there's a load of chips in the middle preflop. Flop come ten high and Big Stack 1 bets out a chunk leaving himself only about 15k behind. Barry debates out loud that he's sure that he's got the best hand etc etc.... and jams all in. Now it's only 9k more to Big Stack 1 and there's about 65k in the pot. So Big Stack 1 makes the crying call and flips AQ.... Barry..... AJ ??!??!?!?!?!?!
Quite possibly the worst play I've seen in a long time but hey .... what do i know?
Bit later and we are down to the final table of 9 with 7 paid. I'm a bit short on chips with about 22k but so are 8 other people at the table as Mr Big Stack 2 now has about 50% of the chips in play. I take a short stack out pretty quickly with QQ in the BB to his Ace Rag all in. We then go into a monster bubble where every short stack seemed to win from behind.
After over an hour of bubble play it burst (I may blog a few of the interesting bubble hands in the next few weeks) and within about 40mins I'm heads up with Mr Big Stack 2.
He's got about 185K and I've got about 65K. I pass the 1st four hands at 2000-4000 blinds and then find a gear.... I'm up to about 100k when all the money goes in on a A 5 8 A board. I've got A5 and he's got A3. Two mins later and I call his all in with KQs to see KT and no help for him. Just shy of £1800 for the win sees me travelling back down the M1 with a smile on my face at 4am.
Pic nicked from DTD web site... short stacks all round on the bubble.
That's 4 final tables from 6 DTD trips :)
As a side note I'm planning on playing the £300 deepstack at DTD the week after next. £300 is a touch more than I want to shell out for a MTT at the moment so if anyone wants 10% or more (up to 40%) at £33 per 10% let me know. I'll wait for the flames for that one :)
