So I went to play day 1b the blackbelt poker main @ dusk till dawn nottingham england.
Got off to a steady/slow start, which the structure kind of allowed for - 15k starting stack, 40 min levels.
Table draw was a good one, after sizing up the table for the first level, I figured the danger man was direct on my right, sam razavi (UKIPT Ireland 2011 winner, and HU cash specialist). As he was on my right it gave me a big advantage, he also busted within a few hours.
Later in the day I found myself 50% of average stack, and I knew I had to change gears. I thought to myself, I have to go for this, and if I bust, that's ok. I don't want to waste my time creeping into tomorrow (final day) and find myself less than 10 bbs for half an hour's play. So I went for it. First opportunity I had was a sexy squeeze spot. I had the PERFECT 3b jam stack after one raise/call. I had KJs but my cards weren't that relevant. I'd been playing tight so I knew this was getting through a lot and I considered the openers/flatter's range it just felt right. Opener folded quickly, flatter hollywood folded his button. Nice. Then I found myself a whle later getting it in with 33 vs a short stacked AK. 3s held. Game on! I didnt really hold back after that either. To cut a long story short, I managed to end day 1b about 10th in chips over all, taking into account 1a.
So I came back for day 2 rested, and excited. Early in the day I made a horrible play/mis read, and dwindle half my stack vs a donk who I should have known was slowplaying .Oops. The field starts to dissapear relatively quickly during Sunday afternoon. We get into the money, and I recall later in the afternoon say around 8pm it got really tense. There was like 20 players left. The table dynamic had gone from chilled to tense. The viewing gallery had got bigger. Now rather than once a day, practically every pot you were in, a camera with a huge lense was taking a pic of your face or a video camera was rolling.
Fast forward to 9:30 and we are 2 off the final table bubble! A massive stack takes a big gamble vs 2 shorty all ins, big stack has 66 vs 88 and AJ. A 6 in the window and we're on the FT! We have approx half hour break, which tbh i wasnt happy about, why must it take so long, i have work tomorrow!
We go over to the feature table, and there's a crowd of people in the viewing area (bit scary), and all the black belt crew (channing, woodlridge etc) are all having their pics taken.
We get ours taken and we are away!
Simon trumper announces the final table player by player, and the cards are in the air. Bright lights shining on you, Nick Wealthall, 1 of the well known british commentators/faces on the scene, is sat on my direct left. Funny/good guy. I didn't really like all this attention of the FT, it felt a bit unnecessary. Simon also insisted that flops/turn/river were dealt super slow like on tv, wtf!
I end up being the first guy out, being pretty short to begin with. I min raise pre with A10 and flop is J10x two clubs, 1 guy calls on CO. I figured this is a good flop for me and unlikely he has me beat after flatting me in position. I ended up cbetting, leaving myself pretty short, and calling an all in as the price was too good, thinking there's a ton of draws in his range, but alas he had AJ. I figured at the time that so much of his shoving flop range is KQ, or Ax clubs etc. Apart from AJ I have him in great shape, doubt for example he's calling me pre with KJ. Folding to the flop shove would have left me so short. I scoop $1000 price and get in my car to go home. GG.
Prob should have folded A10 pre from MP and tbh I did c bet far too big. I mean, what do you do? Check fold flop with mid purr? Meh. Check call flop, no way..then what? Bet small, then 3b shove if he clicks back, or call an all in? Perhaps. Jam pre circa 15 bbs? Possibly. Fold pre? Perfectly fine. It was a horrible spot, with about 311 options, and I could go over it in my head and tilt myself even more, but you know what, first decent score in a while so I'm not going to beat myself up about it. ;)
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