Wem-ber-ley, Wem-ber-ley, Wem-ber-ley!!!
Please be warned this could be a tl;dr kinda post, however i will include lots of pictures and stuff to keep all those with short attention spans interested.
Saturday:
After satting in from the €2rb (in for €
to the €33 to the seat, and looking forward to a "Team Gotham" reunion, i must say i was more than excited for the first event of Season 7. The 7am alarm went off, kissed my GF goodbye, fueled the car and my belly and hit the road for the 2hr drive to the hotel. Its amazing how the 7am alarm for work every day is a killer, but this one felt so easy!
The journey was suprisingly easy, all bar getting lost near the hotel and having to get directions from the local bin man!! Sat in the car for 35 min, i get a text from Dave to say they have arrived. Confused, i found the room only to find they had parked next to me and we had both not seen oneanother?!
As i enter the room, i see card games already in action and i meet one of the newest recruits to Team Gotham, Dwayne "Bane" Stacey. Now i had heard alot about him and his poker CV (B2B top 150 cashes in WSOP ME, amongst a fair few others). Introductions over, i get involved in some cards until the arrival of Chris "Batman" Webber and Tony "Two Face". Team Gotham complete.
Chris
Dwayne
Sit down at my starting table, after soaking up some sun, only to see Chris sit 2 to my left (sigh), then JP Round sits on his left (sigh) and then Dwayne on his left (sigh sigh sigh). The table fills and also includes Ken McBride and the UK Champs winner from last year (Mark Briggs i think?). Ben Cundall joins late.
Tough Table much?
Start off pretty well until i turn my hand into a bluff in a sizeable early pot vs Ben. I call 33 from the bb from his raise and check raise a K94hh flop. He calls and i fire another barrel on the turn (6). He floats again. I fire the 3rd barrel on the
river and he calls. He shows JTo and im perplexed! Still the banter is flowing and i manage to chip back up and down a fair bit. A bit later on i raise QJo on the btn, and am met with a 3bet from Chris in the BB. A cheeky 4bet gets through and im feeling that im playing pretty well.
I get a double when i call a raise with JThh, Mark Briggs calls from the bb and we are 3 way to the flop. The flop comes Q94hhh. OR checks, i lead half pot and Mark jams. I call and he tables Q4dd for 2 pair. I fade and am up to 42k
A Huge hand then comes when i smooth Bens raise with KThh and the flop comes T84dd. Ben leads and i call, for pot control. The turn comes a Q and i check behind pretty sure he is gonna barrell the river. The blank river comes and he bets 2/3rd pot almost instantly. I tank for a while, tryin to decide whether i can jam for value, and can feel eyes in the back of my head. This has always been the action table, and great fun to play on. I decide to call, he announces "Good Call" and flips KT also. SIGH!!! Chop Chop!!
An interesting hand also plays out where i 3bet Bens raise, OTB, with A6hh (i had been calling/raising him a lot and tryin to mix up with the strength of hands) and Dave Howard 4 bet jams the bb. Sigh. A6 is close here, as i know DH is doing this light. Very light. I tank fold, and on hindsight its prob right but if i have A9hh there i think it all goes in!
Tricky ol" Dave
Not long after getting to 70k the table breaks and i move to JBs table.
With 20mins left in the day, with one of the bigger stacks, im quite happy to close out the day until this car crash!
Jenny (who also FTd) raises 3.5k UTG and i 3bet KK to 11k. She tank calls and we see a J72 flop. Jenny checks and i bet 14k and Jenny rr"s me. Hmmmmmmmmmm what the hell!!! Im only beating QQ here, so fold and am told he had 77. Good fold me.
I manage to get through another awful final level at APAT, and come back to Day 2 with 17bbs. Time to do a Carl!!!
Perfect prep for Day 2 consists of Chinese Poker, Online Poker and Whist until 4:20 in the morning!! Would have been ok, except Lauren rang me at 830 in the morning. Sadly my phone was on loud, and although my Mario Brothers ring tone is pretty cool, not sure the rest of Team Gotham were too happy about it!!!
Sunday:
With Batman, Bane and the Joker all through to day 2, spirits were high. I had one mission. £5k. Yes i want to win every tourny, but £5k also means me and Lauren have enough in the bank for the deposit of our first house, so super eager!!!
I manage a double pretty quickly with AQ v JJ aipf. A perfect AQQ flop see"s me home and im back into gear. Shortly after this hand plays out and puts me as the CL.
i raise 4.2k UTG +1 with TT and get 4 callers.
Flop: J85hh and the action checks around.
Turn Th and the bb shoves. I reshove and see im up against
and fade! BOOM!!! Dizzy heights of 165k.
Sadly for me, something happens that has never happened to me before. I set up a hand, and then cant pull the trigger.
Crazy Indian Guy (who bust FT in 9th, putting in his 2nd place stack in pre vs CL with 66) raises button to 7k, so i 3bet A6 from bb to 17k. He calls, but looks uncomfortable. Flop comes T43dd and i donk into him (22k).....
Now, i expect him to call with any strong hands (pairs, flopped pairs, diamond draws and overs etc) but am sure that if he raises then he is bluffing. He clicks it back(44k), and i take a second before shoving my stack over the line. I ask him for a count. He has circa 70k behind. Perfect! Its the right amount. But i cant fire the trigger.....what am i doing. My shove gets any better Ace he has (v unlikely) to fold. Im 100% winning the hand if i shove. I then realise ive paused too long and look weak....but it doesnt matter, im closing the effective action if i shove....what am i doing....FOLD! FFS Dann, thats awful. You"ve set the whale up, why have you crippled yourself!! Rant Rant Rant.
He gleefully shows 75o. WP him. That is the worst poker moment in my life, ive donked wanting him to raise so i can shove, and im not one for not pulling the trigger. Hmmmmm
Im still mulling this over as FT is announced, and although Dave has busted both Dwanyne and I make it.
The FT dynamic is chalk/cheese for me.
I have all the big stack on my right (yippee) but all the micro stacks on my left (sigh) including a guy with 2bbs. Im rocking 20 and hoping that i pick some spots up in the first level.
Nope. Card Dead. Sigh.
A few open shoves with J high, A2, and a 3bet shove with AK keeps me afloat and we are soon 6 handed. Both James and Jenny, on my left are short, so im looking good for my first live 4 fig score.
Dwayne then raises the Btn, from a 16bb stack and i find A7ss on the BB and get my 11bbs in. Dwayne snaps (Uh-Oh), then sighs when he sees my hand, tabling KJo. I like his call here (not as i am ahead
, but he knows im doing the same with a HUGE % of my range so he is ul to be behind on this occasion.) Its also a huge spot for me, as if i hold the table dynamic favours me. Ill have 25bbs. 3 sub 10bbs stacks on the table and position on the CL who is opening light. TBH if i hold then i am certain i will get my first Individual APAT medal.
Although i may not come across as one of those that medals mean a lot too, and yes cash is deffo important, i really wanted that medal. REALLY wanted it!! Feel all the work i have put into my game over the last few years, + all the close calls (see mincash hendon mob). Well the K on the turn dashed all of those.
Im a pretty emotional guy at the tables, sometimes its played up for a reason and sometimes natural but my heart sank when the blank fell on the turn. I know you dont know what"ll happen later but it felt like 6 outer that cost me £2k (diff between 6th and top 3). Bitter pill to swallow, for sure.
Chuffed for JB on his third place, he grinded hard and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in my fav moment of Day 2 (his A7 beating Crazy Indian Guys KK aipf after the K window card - runner runner runner runner straight ftw!!) and also for Dwayne, who is a great player also.
Just updated my Live Poker Spreadsheet and now have a 378% ROI in APAT Live Games, cashing just shy of £1.6k in 7 games this year, for a profit of just over £1.2k
This ROI is obv helped by satting into the WCOAP Main and APAT Masters for a total of about £5 lol.
Over the year i am £1.5k in profit over 11 games (not including APAT Team Champs win) with an Average Buyin of £44. So a good year all in all
Maybe i can play this game after all!
