LUCKBOXING IN CARDIFF.
I have been keen to pick this blog up but a combination of workload and server issues have been stopping me. However, my good fortune last weekend compels me to write, not least before I forget all of my good luck and start to believe I can actually play the game
I cut it fine to get to Cardiff but found the hotel right next to the casino and was in with a few minutes to spare for handshakes and various re-acquaintances.
By now I find my chances of being seated with friends in APAT events pretty high and this was no exception with Chen Tam on my table and James Barber was eventually seated to my immediate left, once he had dragged himself out of Dan Owston"s bed
The early levels were largely uneventful and the theme seemed to be that I would increase my stack by about 2,500 over a number of hands. then give all that profit to Chen in one hand. This was repeated 2 maybe 3 times.
I was soon moved to the next table to find the players to my left in order were Rodders, Asa & Tony Richards. Tony Trip (quiet as ever) and SusiePea were also on this table. I got involved in a couple of hands with Tony R early doors winning one and losing one, then I 3-bet Tony T"s raise & Susie"s call with QQ to take down a small pot but after this I went incredibly card dead & couldn"t find any spots for what seemed like an eternity.
However then came the hand which changed my momentum.
A new player to the Table had brought a significant stack and he opened from the Hijack. I had 77 and flatted, Asa came along from the BB. The flop was Axx 2-diamonds and it was checked all round. The turn was a brick and this time the original raiser bet. I still like my hand and call, Asa gets out of the way. The river is
putting a possible flush out there and my opponent bets around 4.2k into a pot of around 12k. Now I"m quite confident he doesn"t have the A and if he had a 10 I"d expect him to check call so I like my hand. The flush is possible but the price made the call feel correct. I called and he mucked saying "Jack High".
Soon after I flatted in late position with AK (I had been bet off a couple of pots by the raiser so didn"t want to 3-bet) again Asa came along but this time a shorty shoved 11bbs. The original raiser folded, I called and Asa folded. Shorty has QQ so off we go; there"s an Ace in the window and I"ve gone from 18k to 40k plus in about 4 hands.
Not long after this the table was broken and I started to get a nice run of cards at my new table with a set of Queens for a modest pot and a set of
to knock a player out and chip up, plus a hand against Jason Kemp similar to the 77 hand above only this time I raised the button with 88, he 3-bet the BB and I called. He bet flop & river on a 10-J-3-4-6 board. I called and he had A-3 for bottom pair.
David Langley is out
AQ lost to 99
KK on a Q-J-9 lost to A-J, J on the river versus JP Round
Now I"m happy to be a luckbox but this is the one hand I where I want to set the record straight as it reads as though I got it in on the flop holding second pair whilst against KK. The 2 key inaccuracies are, the chips went in on the river and we never saw my opponent"s hand.
My opponent in this hand seems a really nice guy and despite never having met him before, he wished me good luck on day 2 both on my twitter account and in person. He was written on his own blog about having KK, however I will never believe he had KK in this hand.
I"ll report the facts hand as accurately as I can
The opponent opened from MP for a standard 2.5x I have AJ on the button and call (IIRC one of the blinds came along??)
The flop is QJ9 2 diamonds. Original raiser bets 4k and I call. Turn is a brick, another 4k and I call. River is a J, bingo, but it is the
I look at the opponent ready to make the call when he bets but when he shoves all in I wince. I winced "cause this guy had a massive stack not long ago and was CL with 140,000, however I hadn"t realised how much of his stack he"d lost and it"s around 25k to call. Once I realised the size of the bet I quickly called. He mucked stating, "It"s yours, you got it" and pushed his cards into the muck face down. When I turned my cards over he claimed to have had KK? Maybe I"m not at the right level but if I get called holding KK on a Q high board, even if it"s a paired board with 3 diamonds I am not snap mucking face down?
Anyway this gets me to 130,000 (I never had the 180k reported on the updates. I stay out of trouble for the remainder of the day and I finish the day 2nd in chips with 118k
I"m in serious danger of a tl:dr so will leave this post here and come back for day 2
