Not quite deja vu

Last night I was playing in a MTT when I was dealt JQ and flopped 2 pair so ended up all-in to be beaten by AA, with an A on the turn.

It leaves me less than 400 chips so I end up all-in on the very next hand with K6 after flopping the top pair, to be beaten by another AA (different player) with another A on the turn for good measure.

So I move on to another MTT and after a while get dealt the black aces a la Goa and more a la Goa find myself all-in against red kings (and AJ). No diamond flush this time but a straight forward K on the river to put me out.

I played the latter MTT again tonight ($100 freeroll on Poker Satellites) and finished 2nd for the second time this week. One notable hand on the final table with AK, the board ended up AKKAK .......

The Goa Experience

Goa was great. Great weather, great hotel, great beaches, great company. Goa was great.

Unfortunately, poker-wise, I wasn't.

First slight disappointment was, having been drawn on the feature table, that the cameras weren't set up ready for the start of the tournament so I began on the table furthest away.

Mistake number one, and I would say my only mistake during my three and a bit hours of play, was to persevere to the bitter end with 55 with no help on the board, to be beaten by AA. He also had had no help from the board and the fact there was a possible straight may have saved me from losing more chips than I did (around 2000). My opponent, Richard En, made the final table two days later.

Shortly after, our table broke up (the first to do so). I had better luck at the next table although it was the one I went out on ! I won a decent pot with 66 v AK after a flop of xK6 and then lost a small pot when with a board of four spades my 10 (with Ad) was beaten by the J.

Then came the final hand before the first break when I was dealt QQ, raised and called the short stack's all-in to be faced with AA. For good measure he picked up an A on the turn. Just a few hands before I had been on over 12k (starting stack was 10k) but went into the break on 7k.

On the return to action I bluffed a few and was given respect, and on other occasions I bluffed but was reraised, so folded.

By the time my final hand came I was down to 5k and was happy to see (black) Aces. My opponent had raised something like 3xbb, I reraised to 1500, he put me all-in and I called. He had (red) Kings. The flop had the A of diamonds, plus two more diamonds ! The turn was a K but of course it was black so that's ok. Obviously I'm still ahead, the river can pair one of the rags to give me a full house, but of course it doesn't - it throws out another diamond (the 6) and from nearly being back to 10k and starting again, I am out of there. 121st out of 142.

The only thing it does do for me is give me more time by the pool or on the beach !

The colleague from Punters Lounge, Richard, that we travelled with made it to day two but unfortunately his final hand was also AA v KK. The flop included QJ, an A on the turn was unnecessary, as all it did was leave the door open for the 10 which came on the river to give the Kings the straight. What made it even more amazing was that someone else at the table confirmed he had folded Tens so there were only two left in the pack !!! The winner of that hand went on to win the whole tournament and $320,000.

It was a great trip though and if the tournament is repeated next year my plan is to be there .....

Cardiff

I enjoyed Cardiff and the APAT live tournament at the end of February.

The casino was handily placed for the etap hotel and the waterfront and I'd be happy to go back for a better look round.

Re the poker I played woefully up to the first break - the worst sin was with 22. After the break I got my first piece of luck with AK catching a K on the flop to beat 77 and then a ridiculous call really with ATc with two clubs on the flop knowing I'd have to get lucky - but the guy who had gone all-in had A7s (no 7 or T came but the other card on the flop was a spade as was the turn so it got a bit hairy !).

I joined the table I went out on with about 3.5 hours to go on the first day and soon more than doubled up to get to over 50k with AJ v KT. Shortly after came one hand which could have made a difference - I was dealt AJ under the gun and should have been first to act from seat ten and whilst I was mulling over how large my raise should be I heard the short stack in seat one say he was going all-in, which was not a surprise as he only had enough for one blind - 3k. I heard him but from where I was sitting could not see him so didn't know he had pushed his chips. Next thing I know everyone has folded round to the BB - I'm confused thinking I've made a mistake and the BB more so as he mucks his cards and takes his chips and those of the SB not knowing the short stack had called ! The ruling was that he had mucked so his cards were dead as were mine as everyone else had folded theirs ! The BB was holding KQ and agreed he would have called my raise so who knows !

After that I couldn't find another hand I wanted to play and for the last 2.5 hours my blinds just went leaving me 22.5k at the start of day two, in 30th of 32 left in. The one hand I played was from my BB with 58, calling the SB's all-in after a flop of 665. He had 39os and hit a 9 on the turn. 58 got me to Goa and for a brief moment I thought it might get me to the money in Cardiff (down to 22nd) but it wasn't to be. 28th place was 4 places and about as many hands further than I got in the first APAT tournament in Birmingham and apart from playing too loose early and too tight for the last four blind periods on the first night I think I played ok.

Only advantage of being out early on the Sunday was that I got away before the end of the Carling Cup and beat that traffic, and I still needed to pack for Goa !