Having had a few hours to regain my composure, I just thought i would post a few of my thoughts, observations and experieces from this weekend.
4 hour drive to Cardiff, got there in plenty of time for lunch, no food at the Casino ( shoot the manager!!) had a lousy pre match burger at the New Orleans restaurant .
So at the table found myself with Jelland two seats to my right, Simon Aukland on my left ,Steve Coope across and a mad Welsh man called Dan! So a pretty tough table to say the least.
My trip
ran into Steves rivered trip
in the third hand, how I wasn"t going home there and then I don"t know, I then lost another pot to be down to about 5k before the first orbit!
Anyway by the break back to above starting stack, I got hands and played "em strong. Simon had said early on that "You can"t win this tournament in the first levels, but you can lose it" words that proved to be very true, cos at one stage I think he was down to about 5k.
The next three levels up to the dinner break were a disaster for me, totally card dead and down to 4k. Rang the Mrs told her to expect me home about mid night.
The best thing happened a table was broken up and I pushed 3 hands on the trot, and had the rub of the green and got back up to 15-20k. Moved again to Steve Redfearns and Dan Philips table, built my stack nicely to about 45k before Hollywood Steve convinced me to call his button all in with my pocket
out of the BB. Now we all know Steve is a tea leaf, but I did put him on a big Ace or a medium pair. So did I do right calling his all in? ( he had raised, I re raised, he pushed) My thoughts were, if you are going to win one of these things you are going to have to gamble at some point, if I had won that pot I would have been in the top 5, so I called, only for Steve to reveal Aces with a shreik of delight!! A possible flush on the river kept him sweating, but it didn"t happen and I was down to 15K!
Just before the final break, I was back to 20k, with QJ suited (hearts)in late ish position, raised and got called. Flop came 9 10 hearts, and something else? Guy in the BB pushed all in, leaving me with a flush and straight draw for my tournament. I made the call, and hit my straight flush on the turn..... happy days.
End of day one with 58k, after an excruciatingly slow final two hours, with an inexperienced ( but very nice) dealer really struggling with people pushing all over the place trying to build a reasonable day 2 stack!
So to the bar with Cooste, Mike sabian, and "Total Pants" for a few beers and more Poker discussion! Now its 3 am and I have no hotel room, the Travel lodge is full! Fortunately I had for seen the possibility and eventuality, and had packed a sleeping bag! So a night in the car in the car park, greart prep for your first National day 2!
Woke at 5.30, 6.30 and gave up at 7.15am, walked round Cardiff until Starbucks opened, nothing like an Almond Croissant and Cappucino to start the day!
Cardiff is really nice! A lovely Castle, a fab stadium, a nice shopping centre, and the bay area has been regenerated and is both educational and picturesque, and yes I walked about 10 miles!!
Back to Grosvenor, for my first Des interview, and pre match bacon butty ( again not from the casino, what is that manager on?)
So the plan was to wait for a good spot and get "em in, I was midfield and still only had 10 BBs, thing was that was everybody elses plan as well, and with no cards, I could never get into the pot first! Players were falling like nine pins, and the bubble was fast approaching, so a slight change of plan. We had had about 2 orbits and I had lost 2 sets of blinds and the antes, and my feeling was now that i had little chance of final tabling, so cashing became the target. When the bubble burst I had 20k left, and got "em in shortly after with AQ, two callers, is a triple up on the cards? Up against pair
pair
. Ace on the flop, K on the turn, 4 on the river.
Queue a visit to the bar, where I had a chat with Des, and he bought me a drink and in so doing dispelling the myth of Des and his long pockets, short arm syndrome.
It was a great experience to run deep in a field with so many good players, and that should stand me in good stead for future events, unfortunately I can"t make Dublin. The organisation I thought was very good at the Casino, and the TD did a pretty solid job, and was very sure of his convictions when faced with one or two decisions to make. It goes without saying what a terrific job the APAT boys do, it is very much appreciated by us all. Also it was nice to put faces to some of those on line names!
4 hour drive back home, to be greeted by a family expecting a cut ! £20 each for the boys put me in the good books! Roll on the next league game, and see you all at the next live one ( not Dublin).
