Tournament Tear-Up....

Well not quite the MTT that i had expected.....

2 weeks ago I joined a poker club called The WesternClub. Its located in NW London, just of the A40/A406 Junction(Hanger Lane). It is a much smaller and intimate venue than some of the Big City Casinos that you find in central London.

Anyway, yesterday was my 1st visit to what i thought would be the biggest tourni of the week. They run 2 tourni's mon-fri (afternoon + evening) and one on sat and sun evening. Weds night is the Deep Stack (10,000 Chips) £40 FreezeOut. I thought there might be 3 tables running but instead it was in effect a 10 man sit n go as turn out was low.

I think its quite wise when you come to a new place or first sit at a new table to take as much in as possible about your opponents. What i know about this place is that it is full of Regs. It is quite different from a casino uptown where you will have recreational players and people on a night out gambling. I was very quiet and there was a lot of chat going on. All nine of my opponents knew each other well and i can only describe it as gate-crashing somebody's home game where you knew nobody...!!

As the game developed it was clear with the exception of 2 guys that these were pretty hardcore players. I recognised a few of the leaderboard runners who have their player profiles on the site. The reigning leader was too my left and i thought that i had drawn the worst seat, but as it turned out i think he was pretty card dead and played tight all night.... in fact i raised him twice blind v blind and he folded and also a few of times on the button and he didn't play back once.

The 2 weak players busted early and one by one they fell..... soon i found myself 3 handed and in the cash. I did get some nice cards and i won 2 flips along the way, but the fun bit was that i made well timed bluffs which got through. I think my quietness built up a strong image and that helped. I made loadsa mistakes posting the wrong blinds and forgetting to say 'raise' when i put chips in.... it then being deemed a call.... i mean online you just hit raise... you don't need to say it... lol

3 handed there were 2 memorable hands where i donked my betting. With blinds of 1000/2000 i threw in 5000 OTB with T4o, a pure steal, but i forgot to say raise, so it was a call, SB folded and BB checked.... The flop was AQ6 he checked but a got a tell so i checked. The turn brought 3 clubs on the board and he checked.... now i have to bet here, but for some reason i checked and the river brought a 4 flush on the board... i had the 4 of clubs and showdown value and embarrassingly had to turn over T4o and with it went my tight image. I won the pot though and thats all that mattered at this stage. He had a Q and i don't think he would have folded so i think my line was right even though i could have repped the Ace with 2 bets on the flop and turn.

Funnily enough i my think raise-call mistakes OTB scared my opponents into thinking i had big hands. A few hands later i tried again to raise to 5000 with 67o but threw in the 5k chip without announcing so it was a call again... SB called, BB checked..... Flop was AJ3 and it checked to me... this time i Cbet and they couldn't fold quick enough... lol

The cash in this tourni was very small relatively but it was my first live tourni (not including home games) for over a year and was lots of fun vs good players. We eventually decided to chop.... i had more than half the chips in play and at first said no to the deal and played on as i thought it was a poor split but as one of the guys said one double up and it all changes.... he was right but more so i felt like i was the weakest player at the table so finally i agreed and we split:

1st: £140
2nd: £110
3rd: £110
4th: £40

Here is my name on a tourni winners posting... the 1st time ever in my life...!!

http://www.thewesternclub.com/result/400

Time for me to start-up my tourni play......