The Poker Life

GSOP day 2

2006-08-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

So after about 5 hours of crap sleep, i get up and head off to gutshot for day 2 (3 .pm start) When i arrived, we had to find our seat and unload the bag full of chips and continue where we left off...
Thankfully, we were all on a new table and seat, i get seat 4 on table E....i look around and thought to myself YES!..it was a great table, full of players ive played with enough times at gutshot and, best of all....they know me!...i had one guy who was chipped up at 35K compared to my 13K...who i didnt know but i was told he was neil channings mate and was a good player, so i thought avoid him!
We settle down and start....straight away i was already at it!...limped so many times in early position with crap, cos i knew it would get folded to the blinds and i can take the guys to my right on the flop or after.
After 2 hours i got rite up to 19K, won a few hands by limping in with like Q10 and hitting my top pair, betting out enough for a call on the flop and enough for them to pass on the turn, which builds up if you do it consistently.
I get JJ on the button and it was folded round to me, i raise and now matt, in the SB..looks at me and says, " are you Nealing the blinds" which made me chuckle and he passed along with derek "dj dellboy"...i show JJ, which basically sets me up to do it again and again whenever i like!

A few orbits later and the table was going great, i pretty much had an idea of how all was playing on my table and i was chipping away....until!!!!!!!!...........
.......one silly hand!

Heres, the action.....i limp 2nd UTG and its folded round to the SB who calls, and BB checks.
FLOP.......8H KH JD ....
SB bets out 500 in a 600 pot, BB folds and i raise it to 1K...SB calls.
Turn comes out and its a 2S.

8 K J 2........SB bets out 2K...i raise it back to 4K....SB calls.

river....... J.....so its
8 K J 2 J.........

now the pots quite healthy....the SB bets out 5K now!.......i dwell for a few seconds and end up calling.
SB immediately shows KJ!........i show 88!
Now i dunno how i could have played it any different and i know hes never passing his 2 pair on the flop......wot can you do?!! im dented and from that im back to 9.5K!!!....i was annoyed but i knew i could take this table down if i had time!...but noooooo...i get moved instantly after that hand to another table.

Wot really got under my skin was that they guy goes to me,"i knew you had a set, when u raised me on the turn!".........if so!.....WHY call!....amateurs :-p

I move across the room to a table full of stacks!...and here i come tilting and low stack. I look around and i got some tough players...i got Gus gulfen, Sunny chatha, Gaeten villard, this bold guy on my left who ive played with millions of times and is a good player, and james lillywhite who was 2nd chip leader of the tourney with 65K!...now ive played with most of these guys and i wasnt gonna let their stacks get the better of me!

Straight away i found AQ on the button and raised it up pre and on the flop of a KQ4 board, sunny called pre, bet on the flop, i re raise...and he passes....then i rite after i get 88, and thought, " NOT again!"...anyways i raise again (yes im steaming a bit) and one guy calls, it comes 10 high all clubs, i got the 8 of clubs, he bets all in for 3K instantly and i dwell and end up calling puttin him on A of clubs, which he did have!....but a 5 of clubs also!....ooppsie!...a voice from behind said, " pass the sugar!"....marvelous, i just lost the chips i won from sunny plus more....
....now to make things even more better, i get ghandi ngo moved to my table, and i cant lie when i say hes a really awesome tourney player....anyways, i look around and tom was on about 25K and dave just suffered a nasty one! to put him down to 14K....against maria demetriov (her tourny life was on the line) and she hit!....( she ended up coming 4th!!!!!!)...thanks dave! lol.

John I toury director annoucnes 1 hour dinner break...and so me tom dave go and enjoy a nice meal at pizza express...where we discuss how we were doing so far,poker stuff and wot to eat!??
Tom and I opp for pizza and dave went for the salad, it was good that break came then.....
we return from the break a few pats on the back and good luck to us....oh by the way, jamie went out before and tom moved to daves table!...

I came back to a low stack, and was determined to win it back!...and hello hello hello!....yes u guessed it..i did!

........after 4 limps i crawl in on the button with 4 5 off!....usual bizness BB checks.....

...........FLOP comes Kd 4c 2d......i got mid pair and NO flush draw....its checked round to me and i wanted this pot cos it was healthy (plus the antes!). I bet out 1.5K
Sunny in MP calls, as well the guy to my right! (cut off)...ok 3 way hand. turn comes a 5H...great i got 2 pairs. Sunny and other guy checks, i bet out 3K and they both call. Now im puttin sunny on some sort of straight draw and cut off with a K, or flushing. Turn comes 5!...bingo

K 4 2 5 5 .....i got the house......... sunny checks, cut off moves all in!.....i call!....and sunny passes.

He had Ad 5d....he had trips and a missed nut flush draw.....my full boat takes the lot! yippeee!

Im on about 26K....buzzing from that took the next few hands down!...on 32K! and they were all stunned. Dave arrives and says tom just went up to 55K!!! doubling up from JJ...and then tom arrives telling me dave is on 30K, cracked KK with 99's!!!

turn of events!.....the next few hours i rocked up and didint play much,....then it went allll down hill....

basically.....i lost a few chips when i raised from huge over bets and i passed, then i lost some in blinds...and one hand really done it for me!...jamie had been attacking my BB and i been passing, then i see A 8 off and call this time. Flop an open ended, i hit on the turn and river changed nothing, he had the same hand but hit the flush!...it really dented me and i was pissed! or tilting as they say......i pretty much self destructed after that...now it was about 10p.m. and i was tired but thats no excuse, really i didnt want to be there anymore, it was just to much for me! and i couldnt deal with these emotions! lol.....im tired from writing all this now lol.....but yeh thats how it ends for me...coming 60th out of 187...not bad i suppose for my first deep stack tourney!...next year tho!........tom went out round 40 ish, and dave went out 35th by the way.

GSOP day 1

2006-08-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well it was that time! 8pm at gutshot, the place was buzzing with loads of players and spectators talking about it!...just before it started i went round the corner to have a quiet ciggy to myself where i was collecting my thoughts and hoping that the table i was on was not so bad!...got my table and i was seat 1!...looked around saw some familiar faces from gutshot and a few 'celebs'...(bookies fav) and low and behold i get the favourite on my table...richard gryko! and i wasn't that familiar with him, but i was told he is quite the aggreser!...

....first level in and i played only AK and KJ....won both of them...small pot poker was my plan, no need to get busy. i was on a bout 11k sitting happy!...my plan was to be on 15k by the end of the day. Then an interesting hand formulates......late position find 5 6 hearts limp like the rest before me do,
BB checks, and bingo flop comes

3 4 9 (all hearts!)...got a flush, with straight flush draw! few checks b4 me, mike khan bets out, i was gonna flat call, but i decided to min raise it, another caller plus him. turn comes 6 spades. great maybe someone was playing 5 7? never know?...mike bets again, i call, another caller, river 2 hearts! bingo! got the nuts!! mike checks, i bet out 1k in a 4k pot, and one fold, mike calls with a set of threes, i take it down with the straight flush and up to 16K.

Now i couldn't believe my luck, but hey i aint complaining! later on im takin blinds here n there, yoyo-ing from 16 - 14k alot. The guy to my left was an absolute raising machine so i was waiting to catch him all nite! i avoided gryko as much as poss, and a another player called james feeney, both who i thought where the main threat to the table, the rest were absolute rocks!...apart from the guy on my left.....anyways........

.....i find AK later on in the second level (2hr levels by the way), gryko raises early, i just call and the rest fold. FLOP comes K 6 5....now normaly thats a lovely flop for AK, gryko bets out 1K, i raise it bak to 4K, now he was same stacked as me, and i was hoping my raise would take it down, because he KNOWS i got AK...but instead...he goes ALL IN!...for 8K more....wot to do?? call??...but it so early in the tourny! do i really wanna gamble this soon, i was confused because he knew i had it! so why push in on me?? ...he stared me down...i thought i can wait for a better spot! so i fold!!!
not the greatest of folds, but i really thought he hit his set!, its okay im back to 10K again.....rest of the day im just nicking and nicking and eventually leave the day on 13.2K which to me was good enough for the next day....oh yeh gryko went out on the last hand of the day!...its interesting because the guy who knocked him out went on to be on the final table!

that day was long and grueeelllling! and went i got home.. it was 5 am!
Unluckyily dru 'the kid' doshi was out last hand ...but he was short stacked n didnt want to come bak next day like that. Tom (flash) was doing great with a 28K stack! and dave lu was on a bout 21K if im rite. Jamie unfortunately was low on 6k, but he still made it and was ready for day 2!

the nite before....

2006-08-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

so yes u guessed it...its the nite b4 and im quite excited...ive had some serious good fortune today and im hoping it will last till monday lol. bought a scratchcard and won £25! from £1..result! and....did the lottery and won a tenner!...yes i do gamble quite a bit, but u know the sayin.."live fast...lose money faster!"...so played a few sit 'n'go's on the Gutshot site(old one) and done pretty good, won 2 and came second out of 4! then played some cash...(which really is a bad idea!) with my winnings, spun it up quite nicely, mainly from one big hand where UTG raises (loose player), button calls ..i got KK in BB and just call...i know i should Reraise, but i was happy to take it 3 handed... flop comes to my luck..
K 9 9 ....bingo! ...i check, check, button bets, call ,call.
turn is an A.

K 9 9 A...which is still good for me, cos if anything one of them have an Ace!...i decide to bet out small, hoping for a Reraise...and loose player calls instantly and button dwells b4 calling. river comes a 3!, great im for sure to be winning!...i decide to check...(risky) but only because i had a feeling that the UTG guy really wants to bet out!...i check, loose guy checks, button bets out, i push all in...loose guy calls (i cover him), button dwells for a while and passes! which got me confused because i was sure he had an Ace or K minimum...and would have called.
so the board is K 9 9 A 3....i show KK, loose player shows A9!!!! and bingo i take a v.healthy pot down....
...wot got me thinking was how its funny that this guy try slow play me! lol, just shows that A9 UTG is NO GOOD!...

but all good things come to an end!! yes u guessed it...i trapped myself silly!...basically a few orbits later in my BB i got J 7 (sooooted), folded round to button, who raises min, SB and me call. flop ...A 7 6...marrrvelous i got mid pair. SB checks, i check, waiting for button to bet out, so we can pass!..but nope he checks also. turn 7...great i got trips!! woohoo! SB checks, i check again thinking the button will bet, but nooo again he checks..okay,...river 6!...

so it A 7 6 7 6....i got a house! SB bets out...(think hes got the 6) i decide to RRaize as one would, button dwells b4 Re Re raising!!!...hmmmm thats not good....SB calls! so im kinda thinkng wot are these guys playing??? A 7?? pockets 6's??? i was sure that i was ahead..so i calledd (BIG mistake!)....turns out that SB had 10 6...so yes u probably screaming out saying the button obviously has AA's!! and pooooo he did!...i guess i got suckerred! and thats y i dont play cash no more lol.....hope it dont happen tomo!

GSOP!!!...how to prepare??

2006-08-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, hello, YO!
just thought id share my poker thoughts to the world....
gonna play the GSOP at gutshot this friday, should be quality...big Start stacks, long blinds...perfect!
Originially qualified for it bak in july, which was great as i really wanted to play this, and as a student £330 is quite a bit to pay up front (unless your pratik!)..so i had time to prepare and thought id give the game a rest till then. But i thought to myself, what shall i do?...
i mean since ages poker is all i ever did, and to not play is just madnesssss. So i decided...no going to Bigslick or gutshot and no online!...it was tough at first bcos my bro (zenal) and 'the kid' doshi where doing so well as usual i just wanted to go...so i thought id come along but only to watch and try learn some tips for the game...and to my satisfaction it worked...went gutshot last week for the first time in ages where the usual co where playing cash, and next door the £100 freeze was going on and dave lu was playing and doing good on last 4 tables...so i thought lets watch....i saw how he was stealing blinds,changes in his bet patterns with different hands was good...and best of all it was all un contested and never showed his hand...but i knew he had 7 2!!lol. He eventually went on to come 7th and got unlucky to come against KK with his AQ...afterwards i thought to myself he got that far from having a cold deck and when he gets the hand he loses...which made me realise that at the GSOP...do i want to wait for the AA's, KK's or just steal every so often?..desicions eh?! wot about pocket pairs? do i call a raise to hit a set or am i looking to just simply outplay if i think hes missed?...or fold!! getting a early chip lead would be amazing, just think i get 55's hit a set and hes got AA's...pay day!.....hmmm...
but from watching the tournies recently, i concluded survival on the first day and second is key...then on sunday ill start to mix it!...the reason why im having so much thought over this then any other tourny is that ive never played a tourny like this! and normally im so used to these crap shoots that actually having proper poker is quite a rareness!!(sorry for the bad english!)...but u get my drift!...i think ill play a deep stack on stars and see how it goes...but i got work tomo... pish posh!..

wish me luck!