So we head to the MTT and the table looks like this:
Team NLHE PLO MTT TOTAL
Scotland B 28 26 0 54
England A 30 20 0 50
Wales B 28 22 0 50
England B 20 30 0 50
England C 20 29 0 49
Wales A 22 20 0 42
Scotland A 16 20 0 36
Ireland A 16 13 0 29
This was the weirdest MTT I have ever played. Nobody bust before the 1st break, which was 3 levels in. Hell, even the WSOP ME has bustouts by then! It was the nittiest game I"d ever played. Not any fault with the structure, just that people knew that staying in was important and they were happy to fold, fold, fold down to 1xbb. It eventually got to the stage where it did become a crapshoot after the second break at the end of level 5. At that break, I think 38 people were left in, including all 5 of us. Then 5 minutes after the break, I got moved.
To JP"s right.
Oh, hold on, we"d planned for this! I was short and JP had chips so let"s just say I got a few walks and leave it at that. I"ll save the team game discussion for another post. Shortly after that though, Mark, Matt and Asa all bust early, and we were down to 2 whilst most teams had 4-5 left. JP and I had a quick chat and again, this was an advantage. Everyone else wanted/needed to stay in. JP and I couldn"t care less. We couldn"t nit it up because we were practically out - so we played poker. We went for the individual win.
And people kept busting. Soon we had 4 tables.
Then 3 tables.
Then 2 tables. And we were still there, sat next to each other, keeping up with the average chip count.
It was only then that we realised "hold on, we can still qualify for the finals here!" Matt, Mark and Asa were constantly keeping us updated on the scores. Ireland were out but every other team still had a chance...but now WE had the player advantage! Scotland B had 4 and every other team had 1 or 2.
Then we got to 13 and it all changed. Scotland B were assured of a HU for Gold spot so they loosened up, and we had to slow down again. Some very quick maths by Mark told us which players we had to aim for, and JP and I focused on their blinds, until I got moved. I had average chips, albeit 8bbs, but was the 2nd biggest stack at my table.
On the other table I was the shortstack.
Next thing I knew, I"d played one round of the table and we"d gone from 12 to 8! We knew we could only get 3rd/4th, but it was ridiculously close and was as simple as "finish higher than Carl Pilgrim". Yeah, easier said than done. I"d also realised that I was close to scoring the highest individual points and that only two people on the final table could beat me if I finished 8th or 7th. One of them was Paulie D but I was lucky enough to see him lose 2 coolers and bust 7th.
The other person? JP Round.
I really wanted a medal. However, I REALLY wanted to be the highest points scorer. I needed it. I"d spent a month doubting myself that I was worth my spot and I needed to prove it. So I hung on, and on. Then I found a pair of Queens and shoved. Can"t remember if I got called. Either way I won a pot. I was just focused on staying in and getting us 3rd.
Then Carl busted.
We had 3rd. We were playing for a medal.
Then Leigh came over and said that there was no point us playing on...and if everyone agreed, finishing positions would be decided by chip counts. I did some VERY quick maths and worked out that I needed to finish 4th if JP won as a tie gave it to him. On chip count he was 3rd, so I was guaranteed to finish highest points scorer.
Damn right I said I was happy with that!!
So we head to the HU matches. JP had decided our order before the STT"s. He was going to lead off with Mark, Matt would go 3rd, I would go 4th, and Asa was the death man.
I just sat and watched as Mark beat Jo Sharp, JP got lucky against GiMac and Matt got an early lead and never looked back against Grant. I got to start my match with Mary but we played half of the first level and that was it!
