If Carlsberg did dull poker blogs, they'd do this one

[APAT]

Great post.....worrying, but great nonetheless...

[monkeyman]

Great post.....worrying, but great nonetheless...

If you think that"s worrying, be grateful that I didn"t include Blue Square in my summary! If there are any plans for APAT to be sponsored by any of the sites I"ve mentioned in the future, feeling free to retrospectively edit the post and insert the name of a competitor. See, I told you I"m easily bought

[monkeyman]

So its thursday and that means one thing, APAT online night. Assuming I last long enough, I"ll put a brief summary of each hour on here during the breaks.  

[monkeyman]

A promising start. Hit trips once in the first level and blundered along most of the way through the first hour. On the final hand before the break, I won a 8700 chip pot to take me to 11210.  

[monkeyman]

Still hanging in there somehow. Played like a moron for the first level after the breaking, donking off 5000 chips but then recovered with AA holding up against AK. Currently 14th of 25, this is when the fun really starts.

[mal666]

+1

[monkeyman]

somehow still there. All bar one of my desparate all-in shoves meeting with a favourable board. Starting to get a bit hyper now.

[monkeyman]

Oh well, at least I just got to the final table before my luck deserted me. I was in the big blind, Rupinder Bedi to my left min raised, everyone else folded, I shoved with a pair of nines, he called with  kc jc, the flop gave him a flush and straight draw with the straight completed on the river. I suppose I should be happy with making the final table, but there"s a number of final table regulars on there tonight who will be picking up points.  

[monkeyman]

I know i"ve mentioned it already,but I thought I"d dissect what turned out to be my final hand of last night"s APAT touney.
 I had pocket nines in the big blind, Rupinder Bedi to my left min raised with KJ suited, everyone else folded, I shoved and Rupionder called then hit a straight.
 When deciding to shove, I considered a number of factors (1) what did I think my opponent have (2) considering (1)  what was my chance of success (3) What were the benefits if I won (4) what was the downside if I lost.
  To set the scene a little further, the final table had about 7 stacks of about 20000 to 25000 chips, 1 in the mid 30000s and 2 higher.
  My first consideration was what did my opponent have? Most people assume that a minimum raise under the gun represents considerable strength, probably aces.kings or ace/king. Having played against Rupinder online before, I thought he"d be aware of this and was likely to make a move with a marginal hand safe in the knowledge that he could abort mission if one of the big stacks shoved. I thought that he would have placed a larger bet and probably gone all in with a larger pair so discounted this immediately. The hands I thought he had were K/Q, K/j, K/10 or Q/J so I was confident I had the best hand.
  I then considered what I was trying to gain by my actions and this was largely shaped by the make up of the table. As my opponents included the likes of Simon Auckland,Steve Coope and Linda Iwaniak who are all prominent in the national rankings this also affected my thinking as my total of 45 points is behind the leaders but gives me a chance if I get on a roll from hereon in. I thought my only option was to play for the win to try and clawback some of the deficit on those above me. Therefore I felt that raising all in was my only serious option.
  If we were playing in the final tournament of the season with the same players and same chipstacks but i needed to only gain one or two points to secure top spot in the rankings I would probably have folded.              

[hi_am_chris]

you didnt play it wrong i dont think, u couldnt ever fold so its between flat calling and reraising, if youd flat called George was going nowhere and would have taken it on the flop, reraising caused george to make a pretty loose call as it was still a lot for him to call off imo

[monkeyman]

you didnt play it wrong i dont think, u couldnt ever fold so its between flat calling and reraising, if youd flat called George was going nowhere and would have taken it on the flop, reraising caused george to make a pretty loose call as it was still a lot for him to call off imo

Fair comment. Given that I thought he didn"t have a premium hand I"d have shoved in almost all circumstances. The only time I wouldn"t have done was if I needed to guarantee a small number of points and I felt other people were likely to be eliminated to guarantee me 8th or 9th as opposed to tenth.
  I was pretty happy with my play in this hand and throughout the tournament, but I"m annoyed that my brain exited stage left for the 15 minutes after the first break. I think that"s where I blew my chances of a higher finish.    

[Santino67]

What was your chip count in comparison to theirs & blinds?

[monkeyman]

What was your chip count in comparison to theirs & blinds?

I was on around 20000 chips, my opponent in this hand probably had me covered by about 4000, there were 5 other stacks of similar size, 1 30000-35000 ish and 2 bigger. If my memory serves me correctly, this happened 1st level after the 3rd break in which case the blinds would have been 800-1600.  

[monkeyman]

   One thing I"ve been trying to come to terms with over the last few months is dealing with the inevitable swings in fortune familiar to anyone who plays poker. I have been known to launch a slipper at the photos of The Pyrenees on my living room wall after an opponent has hit a 2-outer and am not too proud to admit my departure from APAT nationals could have been more gratious. I have played in 3 nationals to date. My first was in Luton last year where I was rivered off a 70000 chip pot 2 minutes before the end of day 1B. I can remember thumping the table and storming off like a child who has just been told by their parent that they can"t have an ice cream. I may or may not have muttered "FFS" or "F*** me" or something similar. I was a good boy in Cardiff, but my evil twin put in another appearance at Edinburgh. After playing like a man possessed for the first couple of hours, the wheels came off and I was eliminated on the first hand after the dinner break. Annoyed with myself as much as anything else I remember muttering "F*** me sideways" as I left my seat (thankfully Eck and The Duke who were seated either side of me didn"t offer to take me up on my foul-mouthed offer). Anyone within earshot as I walked out of the casino would probably have thought that I suffered from Tourette"s Syndrome.
  What"s helping me come to deal with my fiery side is my day job. When I"m not daydreaming about being interviewed on ESPN with a large pile of cash in front of me, I work in Norfolk County Council"s call centre. Some of the enquiries I take are mundane, but we are the first port of call for Social Services and this is what I"ve been using to try and help modify my less desirable side. On a daily basis, I talk to/about elderly people who live alone but can"t wash/dress/cook for themselves, people with terminal illnesses and callers wanting to report allegations of child abuse. It just seems petty to complain about losing a few quid on the turn of an animated card in view of some of the people I have to speak to each day.    
  I"ve not mentioned the above to try and gain sympathy or to suggest there is a halo hovering above my head, merely to try and put my poker playing in some kind of perspective. Hopefully, the next time I"m tempted to tell a bad beat story or drop an F-bomb, I"ll remember that in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn"t matter at all.            

[monkeyman]

Here we go again, lets see if I can concentrate all tournament this time.