Saturday 28th July

Well as I previously mentioned I am playing in a charity £30 Freeze at Circus Edinburgh for Cancer Research UK on Saturday (28th July '07) and there are still a few places left, there are 64 registered so far so be quick. Goto www.officepoker.net for more details.

Bodog $2500 Guarenteed

As I said In the previous post I am feeling good right now about my poker so I entered this $10 Freeze. There are 214 runners which gives a small overlay of $360. In the first few hands I picked up AQ of clubs and I re-raised a small raise and a call to a pot sized bet and received 3 callers, the flop came 3Q6 rainbow and I was first to act so I put out a small 1/4 pot bet, unfortunately nobody called so I picked up the 600 pot right there.
We are now just over halfway through level 2 and I am chip lead on my table with 2,470 chips after picking up a small pot with the rivered nut flush, my opponent let me in extremely cheap and I was glad to hit it against what I believed to be flopped trip tens. Shortly before the end of level 2 I limped in late position with T7 of spades, the flop came 8c 9s Qs, a pot sized bet of 100 was made by a loosey goosey player and with one other caller I also called. The turn brought 6d giving me a straight, but obviously not the best one. This is where the pot got interesting, the third player in the pot bet 250, to find out where I am I decided to re-raise to 650(pot size) the loosey goosey player calls and the third player re-raises only another 150, leaving himself 700ish chips. This bet had me a little confused, but I decided if he had the better straight good luck to him, I obviously had the re-draw to the flush, so rightly or wrongly I pushed all in(an extra 1000ish) the loosey goosey player calls for her remaining 555 chips and the third player folds (WTF?!?!) My opponent turns over Q8 for two pair and is drawing virtually dead. The river is Jd giving me the Queen high Straight and a 3.8K pot, this lifted me just above the 5K chips mark. Obviously I am not complaining however that play by the third player confused me, he was eliminated shortly afterwards.
The blinds have just been raised to 30/60 for the last level before the first break, I am sitting with 4.9K chips and have just been moved tables where I am second in chip behind what seems to be a fairly loose player who has just doubled up with 43 suited hitting a straight against trip 6's. My observations of the player were correct as he was eliminated a few minutes later after losing 2 hands which were all in pre-flop where he lost with AToff against JJ then with QdTd against AK.
It is just after the break, there are 103 remaining from the original 214 and I have just picked up a 2k pot with AA and I am now sitting with 7.8K chips with the average around 3.5K. I made a pot sized bet with AK and I was re-raised all in by a short stack, I called and he turned over 77 and I failed to improve and lost about 1.6K on that hand.
I was dealt KsQs in middle position with no action before me and then Shortstack to my left re-raised me all-in just about double and a bit my original bet, I reluctantly call. My opponent turns over AcKc and we both hit the King on the flop so I lose due to my kicker problems. The very next hand I was dealt AA there were 4 limpers so I decide to put a pot sized bet out there then somebody made the insta-all-in move and I rejoiced! I made the call (obviously) and he turns over AK and again I rejoice, neither hand improved and the pocket rockets stood up! This is the unbelievable part, the very next hand (seriously) I was dealt KK, yet again, there were limpers, and again I made that pot sized raise. This time it was a delayed all-in however, made me think of Aces, but I couldn't possibly fold my Kings. Thankfully there was no Ace from space to save his miserable looking AQoff and I was up above 13K chips which put me right up near the top of the leaderboard.
I was then moved twice in two minutes and took two big blinds one after the other, which I was not best pleased about. However I saved my tournament life in the next hand, I was dealt KK and there was a short stack all in (2.6K) and a call from the only guy at the table who had me covered, so I decided to just call. The flop came 6 A 8, yes the dreaded Ace from Space, the other guy bet out 1K, which seemed a bit strange considering the pot was already 7K+, so I reluctantly folded my Kings. The short stack all in turned over pocket tens, but Waters the table leader had pocket Aces! So I had infact dodged an early exit, which would have been amazingly disapointing. A few hands later I was dealt AcTc and made a pre-flop raise, which was re-raised all-in by a medium stack, and swiftly called by the table leader again, I passed my AT and thank goodness for that, Waters caught trip Queens with Ace Queen, and I would have been out of the tournament again. I was begining to feel like a cat with 9 lives, I may have lost a few thousand chips but its a lot better than it could/should have been. I was moved tables twice again, which is getting slightly frustrating, I was sitting on 9.5K chips with the blinds at 200/400 and an ante of 50 I was begining to feel the heat.
We are now on the second break with 33 runners left, 27 of which get paid. I am really looking for back to back cashes here, I feel I deserve it also. The blinds have just be raised to 300/600/75, which puts 1,500 chips in the middle before any action happens, I am starting to feel the heat with 8.3K to my name, but thankfully there are a quite a few shorter stacks around. Finally the bubble burst and it was on my table, AQ getting out flopped by QJ which hit broadway. I really need a double up or two fast if I am to make it any further in this tourney, however hands like 48off are unlikley to help in that respect. I was dealt 99 on the button and UTG raised to 2k, I was pushing my 6K in whatever happened. He showed me Q8, and then proceded to flop two pair then the house came with the queen on the turn. I am pleased with the fact that I cashed, and dodged some big bullets there just prior to the bubble, which really pleased me. However I am still baffled as to what I need to do to get that big win.
Hopefully it will come on Saturday as I am playing a £30 charity freezeout for cancer research at the new Circus casino in Edinburgh. Should be good, hopefully I can come up with the goods also!

Bodog $1k Guarenteed

This $2 re buy tourney sure isn't glamorous but a $300 first prize shouldn't be sniffed at. There were only 186 runners, so there would need to be 314 re buys/add on's to prevent some sort of overlay. The re buy period as usual for me was a bit rubbish it was a card famine for me took 2 re-buys, and I managed to some how scrape some chips together literally in the last few minutes before the break, this made it worth it taking the add-on which pushed me above average chips, which I was extremely pleased with considering the plight I was in 15 minutes previously. I always feel I have an edge in the freeze-out stage of a re buy tourney over the majority of my opponents due to rubbish play in the first hour that continues into the freeze. With a few in position pot sized raises I take down a few pots and elevate my stack a little higher. Then I receive pocket 8's UTG +1 I again elect to make a pot sized raise, and this time I receive two callers, one shortish stack in the cut off and the medium stacked Small Blind. The flop comes x J 8, with two hearts, The small blind bets half the pot, and I decide to make an all in shove which both opponents call. Fortunately neither were on the flush draw, as that hit the very next card, the short stack just called for the ride with ace high (which I would have done in his spot with the amount of chips in the pot) and the small blind turned over AJ and neither improved, that pot almost tripled me up. With the help of a few blind on blind confrontations with the player to my left, who called my preflop raises on his Big blind with ANYTHING and then folded on the flop every time but once, where he folded on the turn, I kept my head nicely above water. I hit a very shaky hand, the button limped in and I checked my blind with 8 6, the flop comes 5 7 8 rainbow, great giving me top pair and an up and down straight draw. I bet half the pot, and the button min raised me(as I have seen him do time and time again, I hate Min raises by the way) So i decided to push all in, I was insta-called. "Bugger!" He had slow played the straight with 4 6(Why he limped in with 4 6 when the chips were so precious is beyond me) I failed to improve with a 9 so he had doubled up through me and taking a third of my stack in the process. This happened at the wrong time, 26 remaining with 18 places paid. The signs were not looking good, I have finished around the bubble in the last 5 mtts I have played. In the end I just make it through and with 8 BB's I push in on the button with AQ only to get called by pocket tens which improved to a set on the flop, setting me out in 18th position. I was partially relieved to finally have cashed, although I felt the result should have been better.
I can really feel a big result coming soon, I am consistently getting near to or in the money, I think I just need that final push and a little bit of luck in the latter stages to get me that win.