The Last Week

I've not been updating after every tournament because I've decided it's a bit of an effort, and i'm not sure there's too much to be gained from it. Instead, here is a brief overview, with a few hands of interest.

Wednesday- Alea £40 Freezeout

Not much to say here. Busted out shortly after the break. Rather than go through the hand again I'll just link to the post on Blonde:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=39538.0

In the end I think I'm satisfied I made the right decision, although I think it was only marginally correct.

Saturday - Alea £20 Double Chance

The first thing to note in this tournament was that we ran it as a triple chance, to the agreement of all players present. I don't see this tournament taking off as currently advertised. If I go to it it'll be because I have nothing better to do rather than wanting to go to this particular tournament.

On the subject of Alea tournaments I posted in the following thread my suggestions:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=36638.90

Back to the tournament at hand however, and the following situation occured.

My stack: 10kish
Villian 1: 10kish
Villian 2: 6kish
Blinds 100/200

I limp in LP after a few limpers with 98. Ed from the SB raises to 400, and naturally the whole table calls, putting us about 6 handed to the flop of QJT. Ed bets 800, I raise to 2400, player to the left of me flats, and Ed shoves all in. At this point I'm hating my hand, but am really only scared of 2 hands. Deciding Ed has probably got a strangely played AK I reluctantly fold, and the guy to my left calls. Ed: AA, other guy: K9.

So I was right, but I'm still not convinced this was a brilliant fold.

With 5 of us left a particulary sick hand occurred. I'm pretty shorstacked, M of about 4 or 5. I'm in the BB with AQ. Button shoves, so you'd think easy call for me, except Justin insta-shoved in the SB. I reluctantly folded, as Justin has a premium hand here like 99% of the time. Button: A9. Justin:QQ. Board: 55T55. I'm annoyed as I'd have had half of Justin's chips. Justin was sick to his stomach.

I eventually took 4th in this for £45, a net £15 loss lol.

Sunday - Alea £30 Rebuy

Only 12 turned up to this, so we ran it as a £60 freezeout. Busted out at the 400/800 level when there were 2 limpers into my BB and I held 88, with a stack of 8k. I shoved and ran into AA, bah.

Monday - Home Game £5 Rebuy

I enjoy these rebuy games, and thankfully this was a cheap one for me as I won quite a few early pots, getting dealt AA, and having Chris push all into me when I had 75 for the nuts, having hit the straight. I had a comfortable chip stack throughout the tournament, making occasional raises to keep my stack healthly. Once heads up our final hand was a somewhat controversial one. Details of it can be found at:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=39657.0

In the end I won, for a return of £95, a nice £80 profit :)

Monday - Alea £1/£1 Cash Game

After our tournament only Me/Chris/Tim remained. Not wanting to play a 3 handed cash game me and Tim headed to Alea to get in on the action there. Having sat there for about an hour playing no hands I managed to bluff away about £65 by betting into a full house - oops. I then got coolered against Justin on a straddled pot with a 78J flop. I held 78, Justin held T9. Gah.

I reloaded for £50, and later on limped on the button after a few limpers with 42s. A lovely flop of 356 gave me the second nuts. I raised the flop and recieved a caller, who unfortuantly went away on the turn. But still, a nice pot.

A little later I'm in the blinds in a straddled pot, and make up with A6hh. Flop of KQ3 2 hearts. I check, a guy who has been playing fairly loose, but quite solidly, makes it £15. I look at my stack and decide it's a good time to pull the semi-bluff with the flush draw, thinking I can sell a bigger hand. I shove all in, and after a few minutes the villian folds, netting another nice pot.

I was then involved in my biggest pot of the night. But first, a little history on the villian. Maniac is probably the word. He'd been raising anywhere between 15-70BBs preflop, usually with mid-pocket pairs. I limp on the button with 78, and the flop comes K78. Checks around to me and I bet £4, which the villian raises to £12. Not wanting to bloat this pot I flat call. Turn was a 2 I think. Villian bets £15. Well, if I was good on the flop I'm surely good now, so I call. River is a Q. All straight/flush draws have now missed and the villian bets out £75. After 2 minutes of piecing the action together and deciding I'm good I call, and am relieved when he seems reluctant to show his hand: J7.

So, in the end I finished on £210, for a nice little £60 profit.