I'd softened her up with flowers, champagne and earrings; then cooked her one of her favourite pasta dishes... but it was still with some trepidation that I opened the discussion:
"There's something I need to mention about tonight, darling."
"Oh", she replied ominously, "what's that?"
"You know it's Tuesday, and I've got my league match tonight"
"Oh, that", she said, "I knew you'd be playing your league game", which could be interpreted in a number of ways!
"You don't mind, do you darling? I'll probably be out before that first break anyway", which is certainly a reasonable statement based in recent results.
"I don't mind that at all", she finished, almost miraculously, "enjoy your game"!
Anyone who read my last blog update may have picked up on a dip in my tournament poker confidence [!] So I thought I would approach last nights game from a novel perspective - betting decent hands in decent spots, and folding if I thought I was behind! Not my usual game, and not [really] even a winning game, considering the frequency of decent hands in hold 'em poker. Still it was a deep-stacked, full ring, tournament, so I would have plenty of time to pick my moments.
If poker was really that simple, I'd be a winning professional poker player... unfortunately, so would everyone else, which is why poker isn't as simple as that... but fortunately for me, things got off to a nice steady start. In the first session, I had a couple of decent hands - nothing premium, but a couple of Ace Broadway combinations and a couple of medium pairs. I'd managed to accrue a few chips and was slightly above average going into the first break (so much for my earlier assurance to my GF!)
I played pretty much the same game during the second session, and had similar steady results. Closing in on the second break, I had a lucky escape - picking up Ace Ten suited in position, I saw a raise followed by a re-raise. The third bet enabled me to let go of my hand, the rest of their money went in pre-flop, andthe hands were pair of Jacks, and Ace King suited - thank you position! A few hands later, with the blinds at 25 / 125 / 250, I got my best hand of the evening so far - Ace King. Following a 750 raise in front of me, I 3-bet to 1,750, and my opponent shoved the rest of their stack to make it 5,525 total. With just over 13k behind at the start of the hand, this was an ideal shove to call with Ace King, so I got it in and was pleased to see Ace Queen suited. A Ten and a Jack on the flop made the turn and river slightly sweatier [!], but my hand held up, and I won a decent chunk of chips, going into the second break in second place.
During the third session, the field started to thin considerably, and I managed to keep picking-up chips steadily. As the third break approached, there were twelve players left on two tables. The blinds had increased to 120 / 600 / 1,200 and play had become very cautious. No-one wanted to miss out on the final table, obviously; but nobody wanted to pay those blinds uncontested, when the table was six-handed. Somehow, torturously, I made the third break. The girlfriend and I were in bed at this point, and she even commented on a couple of hands - mostly to say "how could you fold that?!"
The fourth session kicked off, and before long we were down to the final table. I felt really pleased with my performance, and then the suck-out happened. Everyone needs to suck-out in a tournament sometimes - I was surprised I'd managed to make it to the final table without already doing so. To be fair to me, I picked up my best hand of the evening, and I wasn't all-in on the hand - even though I would have been crippled if I'd lost.
 |
| Suck-out (sorry)! |
Obviously the suck-out happened on the river - as, almost inevitably, it does. It's hard to describe the mix of feelings when the Queen appeared on the river. Sympathy, ELATION, and guilt; sat in bed with a lap-top, and a ridiculous grin on my face. It's important (but not always easy) for me to remember these moments when I'm on the receiving end of this shit. I'd been feeling sorry for myself (poker-wise), but it only takes one hand like this to change that all-the-way around to feeling like I was the luckiest guy in the world. My apologies go to TarquinFtang out there, but I needed this one; and (bloody-hell bolderick) I only gone and got it!
It was quite a final table to sit at - with Joe Beevers and Ross Boatman from the Hendon Mob; along with Hackett, one of the forum regulars that has generously supported my poker playing (always showing more confidence in me than I do in myself!)
Mostly by keeping myself out of the firing line, I made it all the way to heads-up against Hackett, but that was as far as I made it. My first league win still eludes me, but with renewed confidence, I feel like it could be just around the corner. My sincere congratulations to Hackett for a well-deserved win. I was really, really pleased myself with the $115 and 25 league points for second place.
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