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[hurleyp]

Yesterday I attended the Gutshot Friday afternoon £20 freezeout tournament. Here’s what happened.

69 players began, and fairly soon after I sat down at my table (‘Ungar’) at 2pm two things made me realise that this would be a different proposition from the £5 beginners’ night I went to with Anton a couple of months back. The first thing was the presence of a TV player four seats to my right. I don’t know his name but I have definitely seen him on some British programme or other. He’s an Irish guy in his mid-40s, with greying hair. The second thing was the standard of play. These guys were serious, and seriously good. I’ve never been at a table where the odds (be they pot, implied, expressed) were discussed in such detail, and their evident knowledge of the game was far in advance of mine. The way a lot of them handled the cards and chips must have taken a lot of practice and play.

(I’m not knocking the Tuesday night game, but as those of you who have been know, it can be at times a bit like organised mayhem, with some crazy betting going on in the first 90 mins. I intend to go again, but more on that later.)

So how did I do? Well, my initial targets were a) not to make a fool of myself and b) last until the first break which happened after 80 mins. I didn’t do the first, and did do the second, but just about. It took about 20 minutes for the first player to be eliminated from the whole competition and after 80 mins only 3 had gone from our table (all replaced by others. Happily our table would be the final table so none of us moved, instead people were moved to us). I had decided on a Hellmuth ‘Top Ten’ strategy for this period, with some Hansen-like mixing it up thrown in in an attempt to win some chips, but there was so much power playing and bullying going on that I didn’t really get anywhere.

I saw two pairs and one ace in the first 80 mins. A pair of twos which I raised with, got reraised and then mucked, and a pair of kings. I reraised a raiser with them, only to have everyone fold, including the original raiser (Eric the Viking*). The only ace I had was matched with an unsuited five. Any attempts to limp in with nothing were soon beaten down by the bullying that was going on. So I got to the break with 600 chips remaining, which probably put me in about 35th place out of the 37 remaining, and the short stack at my table. I felt like I had been a bit of a mouse and the way things were going I would probably not last much longer. I needed a miracle.

The miracle came. In the first half an hour after the break I turned my 600 into 5,000 and was back in the game. In the small blind I called an all-in from the button, a guy called Ray* on my right who had been using his position extremely well and consistently putting me under pressure. I had K and Q of hearts only to see him turn over nothing at all, something like 4 and 7 unsuited. After this double up I felt a lot better, and soon called him again with a pair of tens to his pair of sixes. I also, and most pleasingly, knocked out Eric the Viking, who I put on a bluff, and got some respect when I called his 6 and 9 with QK suited. By this stage – about 4pm – only five our our original ten remained. The TV guy was no more.

(During this period after the break I decided to use my Ipod – several players were wearing them – and it really helped to calm me down. I can completely see why players use them.)

I managed to last nearly two more hours. After the break I thought I could hang on to make a top 30 finish. Then I was going for a top 20 place. By 5.30 there were 15 players left on two tables, each now with a dedicated tournament organiser observing us. The final table was in sight, but there was the slight problem of the blinds which were now a costly 750/1500. I had consolidated by winning an honest hand or two, and also using the power of the all-in to steal some chips (very satisfying when 9 guys fold). But I didn’t get much higher than 5,000 at any point.

The complexion of our table had by now completely changed. Of the original ten, only three of us were left, and we were joined by a number of increasingly large stacks. One of which , Yoshi*, was the same Chinese guy who had been on my table when I when I went a couple of months ago. I remembered that Yoshi liked to gamble but that he was also a very good player. His crazy gambling was exposed when he called an all-in pair of tens with 4 and 6 of clubs – only to pick up 4 and 6 and win.

With a stack average of over 10,000 and me down to 3,000, I had to do something, or I was out. I couldn’t go all-in with anything anymore as I would be called, so I had to sit tight and wait for something. When I finally got it, I was on the small blind, already in for 750, and staring at AK of spades. The whole table folded round. I thought about it and went all in, which put Yoshi on the spot. He thought about it for a bit, and called (he had about 10,000), and showed a pair of Js. He went quiet, I wasn’t too unhappy since it was more or less 50/50. Sadly for me the board came ten high, so it was time to get up and leave. However, I pleasingly got a few nods of appreciation and a couple of handshakes. Even Yoshi admitted he was worried by the AK. I’ll post more about this final hand on the ‘problem of the week’ section as I would be interested in your comments on it.

I went out in 13th place, four off the money. I think that I did the SLT poker massive proud, and even though I didn’t emulate Chris in getting in the money, I was very happy with the way I played after the break. Never underestimate the short stack! And the feeling I had after exposing a couple of bluffs was very nice indeed.

Finally a word on the atmosphere. While we had a few bullies on the table, it was only in the nicest possible poker sense. This was a serious crowd, but serious about the poker. There was a jokey atmosphere, and a friendly one, and I really enjoyed it. Mistakes were pointed out and rectified without any problem. I was knackered at the end and realised how much mental and physical stamina it takes for really long tourneys (I’d only been playing for under four hours), but this was a real highlight of my fledgling poker efforts.

I’m going to go to this again – my friend Adam couldn’t make it yesterday because of work – and if anyone wants to join me then please do so. I’ll also go back to the Tuesday night game in a few weeks. Oh – they flopped the flop one card at a time!

* Some names have been invented as I don’t know the real ones. Sorry this has been a bit long but I thought you’d want to know the details. If I’ve overlooked anything then please ask.