Alea £40 freezeout

Went to Alea again last night, still on the lookout for that elusive first win.

On my first table I had Shaun and Fraiser - anyone who knows these two will understand that this means complete carnage.

My first pot of the night came from a player I've not seen before, but he seemed to be playing a tight aggresive game - he'd generally folded, but raised/cbetted a couple of times. With 1 limper he raised to 300 at 50/100 level. I found JTs in the SB and made the call, as did the BB and limper. 4 of us saw a J high flop which checked around to the perflop raiser - as expected he cbetted 600. Deciding not to turn this into a big pot, but suspecting my J was good, I just called. The other two folded taking us to the turn, which was a K - not a great card for me. I checked, and he checked behind me. River was a blank, I check yet again, thinking my J is good, and hoping he's going to fire again. Sure enough he fires 1500 which I call. He turns over AQ :)

My next big pot was against Shaun. Blinds now 100/200. I raise to 600 with AJs on Fraiser's BB (who isn't sat at the table at the minute). I get called by Shaun (obviously) and the SB. Flop is J72. Checked to me and I fire 1600. Shaun raises to 3200, and the other guy got out of the way. My J is good here the majority of the time, so I called the flop with the intention of check raising all in on the turn. Turn is a 4 or something, I check, Shaun bets 1600 (was hoping for more) and this is the point where I pull the trigger. He thinks for a while and folds, claiming he had two pair with 72.

Absolute comedy hand a bit later. Blinds were 150/300. Tight player (which to be fair with Shaun/Fraiser on the table is the best way to play) raises to 1200, prob his first pot all night. Shaun calls on the button, and Fraiser calls on the BB. Flop is 742. Fraiser checks, and the tight player bets 3000 (leaving about 4000 behind). Shaun moves all in. Other guy snap calls with AA. Shaun turns over 73 and has a go at the other guy for not being able to lay down AA post flop, lol. River is a 7 and Shaun points out the other guy needs to go home and learn how to play poker, brilliant.

At the break our table got split. On my new table I quickly picked up a bounty after shoving over a raise/call with AK - the caller calling the shove with AJ. So I'm quickly up to 25,000 or so and sitting quite comfortably. Not too long later I pick up another bounty after a short stack shoves into my BB and I'm holding AK again.

With blinds at 400/800 it's time to start using my stack to pick up some blinds. With only 7 players on my table I raise to 2400 with 99 UTG. The BB shoves for 5000 more, which I obv call, hoping for a race, but as it turns out I'm ahead of his K5s... another bounty, plus 2 that he was carrying, and i'm now up to 40,000ish.

Things went downhill from here. My perflop raises were getting shoved over the top. People raising/shoving kept happening on my blinds meaning I was forced to let them go. And with blinds at 1000/2000 I'm down to about 20,000. A fairly tight player to my left was now getting pretty active preflop, obv trying to take down some blinds. He raised to 6,000 on my BB and I'm holding AQs. My stack goes into the middle, and gets called by TT. I hit an A and double up.

Lost a small pot and am back down to 30,000. Blinds at 1500/3000 and folds to Pat in the SB who completes. I have 68 and check. Flop is a magical 579. Check, check, hoping he catches up. Q on the turn and the money all inevitably ends up in the middle as he had QT.

I for the second time running burst the final table bubble. Blinds at 2000/4000 and a guy shoves into my BB. I have 99 and call for the 16,000 more it was. He had AJ. Dealt the flop: J in the window wasn't nice, but the 9 hiding underneath was :) Unfortuantely this guy didn't have any bounties to steal.

Final table started with me recieving £70 for the bounties I earnt. I was 2nd in chips with 86,000, behind Pat with 87,000. Very first hand I call an all in for 20,000 with AQs. Guy has A7 and hits a 7 - bah.

Pick up a pot or two preflop to keep my stack healthy. Then in my BB a somewhat tight player raises to 12,000 (blinds now at 3000/6000). He only has about 30,000 left behind. I call in the BB with KJo. Flop is 343. I ship it in knowing he can't call without an overpair - he folds KQ face up and I resist the urge to show my KJ, not wanting to damage my credibility when stealing pots is such an important tactic at this point.

We're eventually down to 5. Blinds now at 5000/10,000 and Justin shoves his SB into my BB. About 30,000 more to me, and my KT is way ahead of even Justin's range - he turns over Q7 and hits two pair, bah.

We were then discussing high pocket pairs, and I point out I don't want AA/KK/QQ as I've been on a horrible run with them recently. Next hand, Gail raises to 30,000. I look down at AA :D I shove for about 80,000. The guy whose A7 beat me earlier goes all in too. Gail tanks and folds AQ. I'm against KK, and my AA holds.

4 left. Guy to my left raises to 30,000. Folds to me in the BB with AJs and I go all in. With only about 50,000 behind the other guy couldn't really fold, and he eventually called with 33. I lose the race and lose a decent amount of my stack.

Lost a couple of blinds due to raises and we come to my exit hand. Blinds 6000/12000. Folds to me in the SB with 87s, I complete, having started the hand with about 80,000. BB raises 12,000 more. I'm tempted to fold, but just can't because of the pot odds. Flop was 89J. I shove, and he calls with KK, and that's me done. Can't decide if I like my play on that last hand. I was a tad unlucky to run into KK, but that flop hits quite a few of his raising hands.

So, 4th place netted me £115, plus the £70 bounties, making £185. Not bad, some valuable league points, but that first win at Alea still eludes me.