Setting the Scene
After 4 months of planning, the event seemed to be here
before we knew it. We always knew that
to be a success the satellite tournaments would be essential to make sure we
had enough players for the main event, the more players, the more attractive
the prize pool was, and the more other people would want to be involved too.
We thought 40 players would be a stretch but that was what
we had aimed to get, so to have 47 players it was fantastic, so a very big
thank you to all the players that took part.
As 12pm approached the room was buzzing with most of the
players there already, the prize pool already reading over £20k and 5 full
tables. The dealers we brought over from
the UK were brilliant, and it was a pleasure to have them looking after the
tables and keeping the game going. Even
our local dealers stepped up their game and were controlling the game and
making sure everything was flowing the way it should be.
The First
Elimination
In any tournament, no-one wants to be the first player
eliminated, and it usually takes a ‘cooler’ something like Aces vs Kings or a
Set vs a Set. Although the first
elimination was on my table, I never caught the early action however, this is
how I think it went. Jake Patel raised
early position with QQ and was called by Matt Rowles with 44. I was in the big
blind and folded which left the two of them to see the monster flop of Q44!!!!
WOW “Check” “Check” I hear, the turn came an ace and the river a five - I’m not
sure if there was any betting on the turn but I remember on the river Jake had
the decision to call after Matt had eventually gone all-in. Jake asked Matt “Have you got aces” to which
Matt simply replied “No” Jake called and flipped his Queens only to see Matt
had flopped Quads.
Solid Play
As I wandered round the room, other than the big elimination
on my table the chips were pretty static.
Everyone had brought their ‘A’ game and the players were cautious not to
lose too much of their starting stack.
Next out was JT who I’d spoke to him earlier and he had lost a few big
hands that had crippled him. Back on my
table Rowlesy was still smashing everything, not content with one lot of Quads
he hit another one and was easily the early chip leader in the tournament. I had been very quiet the first hour or so
with very poor starting hands however, going into the second level I picked up
a few better hands and every pot I played I seemed to win. I was quickly up to around 40k before I lost
3 big hands. I hit 3 Jacks on an JJK
board with AJ, only for Ritchie to hit a 9 on the turn completing his straight,
quickly followed by just being outkicked on a KK5 board whilst holding K9. Rowlesy had K10 and I was quickly losing all
the chips I had won.
On another table you could hear a “OOOH” so I pop across to
see Danny Paxton at risk with all his chips in the middle. The board read 3,7,6,6 and all the chips were
in on the turn, Danny with two pair and Darie with trip 6’s holding 6,5
suited. The “Oooh” came as the two outer
hit and Danny hit a full house with a Queen on the river, Darie losing some of
his big stack that he had clearly built up earlier in the day.
Big Decision
So 4 Hours in and I’ve lost most of my stack, so I need some
action to start building it back up, I pick up 10,J and raise the chip leaders
BB. Rowlesy was in no mood to fold so
smooth calls. The flop comes down AKQ,
I’ve flopped a straight and think I’m golden however, Matt leads out on the
flop, I then realise they are all diamonds.
I have the Jack of diamonds, so not only have I flopped a straight I
have the royal flush draw so I call to see a brick on the turn. This leaves me with just 1 chip(It was a 10k
chip – but still 1 chip), and Matt puts me all in. I ponder for quite some time
playing with my last remaining chip, and try to work out what he has. After some time I fold and he shows me the
flush which I knew he had but with the big draw, I had to weigh up the pot
before I folded.
I lose a couple more small hands and I’m down to about 6 or
7k before I go on a hot streak and start to build my stack back up again. 6 hours played and we break for dinner, with
not that many players having been eliminated, so we decided to play 10 levels
on day 1 to make sure we have around 20 players returning for Day 2.
Tables Break
As the first of our tables break we pick up a few new
players John the beast Beadle and Nik ward who happens to be the tournament
chip leader join us, and the dynamics of the table change somewhat. On another table I hear a “Get in” as Eddie
Quinn gets it all in pre flop with Kings against the aces of Ricky Weir, Eddie
had obviously spiked a King and that sent him off on a roll to amass one of the
biggest chip stacks of day 1.
Sam Jackson was another player who joined our table, and
obviously had not had the best of luck throughout the day as he was a relative
short stack. Whippy raised his big blind
and Sam shipped it all in, Gary called and tabled JJ, whilst Sam tables
KK. Both ask the dealer for “One Time”,
and it is Whippy who gets the lucky set hitting a Jack on the turn to knock out
Sam.
Turning Point
So I’ve built my stack back up to around the 20k mark and
get involved in a hand with The Beast and Whippy. The flop comes 2, 10, Q, which the beast
leads out on, Gary calls and so do I on the button. The turn is a King completing some straights,
and also puts a flush draw down. The
river is a Jack putting a four card straight on the board. Gary checks, so does the beast and I lead out
for a value bet on the river. Gary folds
and after some lengthy deliberation so does the Beast. Whippy said he had top two, the beast a set
and I tell them I have the nuts, however no-one shows any cards and I’m up to
40k.
Matt Rowles has lost most of his big stack however, still
has around 15k and raises quite big in early position. I look down and have pocket 10’s, I’m
struggling to work out his raise so I think it is wise to flat call and
evaluate a flop. The flop comes 2, 3, 10
so it doesn’t take me long to evaluate that!
Matt leads out and I flat call in position, the turn is an ace and Matt
goes all-in, I call to see he is dead with A9 and no re-draw, and I’m up to
55k.
The final hand of the day I get pocket Queens, and the big
blind is Nik Ward who I’ve been in a few hands with, always showing the best
hand, and including Aces. I don’t want
to scare him off so a small raise and he calls.
The flop has a Queen on it so I’m happy he’s stuck around, I manage to
value bet all 3 streets and I end the day with 67k. With 21 players remaining the average stack
is around 56k so I’m more than happy with how the day has ended. I look around the room and the chip leaders
are James Cummings, Eddie Quinn and still Nik Ward, as everyone bags up their
chips for day 2.
Day 2
I return early on the Sunday as I remember I haven’t sorted
out the chips for the side event, only to realise I need another laptop for the
side event, so I go to pick up the one from the poker club. As everyone starts to arrive everyone seems
to be a little jaded from a marathon 1st day, with 21 players still
remaining and the blinds not even 1,000 2,000 it wasn’t going to be over
quickly. Big stack Eddie hadn’t even
managed to make it here and after rumours of him going out drinking we started
the phone calls to make sure he was alive!!
The action quickly got underway and Roger joined us from another table,
sat next to big stack Nik Ward, their fortunes quickly reversed as they got
involved in two big hands with roger winning both. The big one I recall was Rogers Aces vs Nik’s
Jacks all in pre-flop and Roger holding on to knock him out.
Shortly after it was the turn of Whippy who 3 bet all-in, after
roger had raised from an early position. Roger called to see his Queen Jack was
dominated by Whipps pocket Jacks. The dealer
flipped the flop and the Queen was there giving Whippy just 1 out, two bricks
and he was out.
The side event was well under way, and we had a very good
turnout with 34 players entering, 5 or 6 re-entries and a prize pool of around
£4k!! The room was buzzing again and was
jammed with players playing both events.
It was good to see quite a few players who hadn’t played the main event
get involved, so again a big thanks to all who came down to play.
I started to run good in the main, and quickly built my
stack to nearly 100k. By the time we got
to the final 9 myself, Roger and James all had around 200k each with around 50%
of the chips between us.
Final Table
The final 9 saw Roger in seat 1, Dave Nuth in 2, Craig
Hartley seat 3, Warren Mudge in 4, Matt Thebbault in 5, Eddie in 6, James in 7,
Smurf in 8 and myself in seat 9. The
first to go was Dave Nuth after 3 betting my initial raise I called with AK and
was up against pocket 9’s. I hit the
flop and Dave was out in 9th.
The next to go was Eddie Quinn, who flat called a pre-flop raise by
Warren with pocket 10’s. The flop came
2,8,9 and Warren shipped all-in, to which Eddie had a very difficult decision
to make. After a few moans and groans
Eddie says “Have you got AK” and calls to see that is exactly what Warren was
holding. The turn was a brick but the
Ace came on the river to cruelly knock Eddie out in 8th place. Next
to go was Matt who was one of the short stacks when we started the final table
and that left the final 6 players with only 5 place paid. At the start I had said I didn’t want to do
any chops, but agreed to pay £100 to the bubble from everyone’s own pocket,
leaving the prize money exactly as it
was. The Smurf was the man in Danger as
the short stack however, he managed to double through James and continue to
hang around.
Big Hand
With no-one wanting to go out on the bubble and with a short
stack nearly out of chips, it was going to take a big hand to eliminate another
player. I found myself in the small
blind against Roger in the big, and with no callers or raises I decided to
raise with 6,2 of diamonds. Roger calls
and we see a flop of 3d,4d,5c, BOOM I’ve flopped a straight with the straight flush
draw. I bet the flop and Roger ships all
in for a massive pot, I have to call and flip my cards over. Roger turns over 5,9 of diamonds for top pair
and a bigger flush draw!! The turn
brings a 9, so he now has top two pair, and a flush draw so I’m praying for a
brick on the river to which the dealer duly delivers and I have him covered. Roger is the bubble, and I’m up to 500k in
chips, the Smurf the happiest man in the room as he has made the big cash with
his short stack. A couple of hands later
and I find pocket 8’s, the Smurf move all-in with KJ and hits a King on the
flop, unlucky for him there are 3 spades and a fourth one on the river gives me
a flush and sends him out in 5th.
I’m on a roll, and when Warren 3 bet shoves my initial raise
for 80k with AJ I call with AK and have him dominated. I was just about to have 70% of the chips,
when a jack hits the turn, and reality sets in that I need to slow down and
make sure I make the top two.
Craig Hartley eventually takes out Warren, and then James
takes out Craig to leave me with roughly 500k and James with 675k heads up, to
be crowned the 1st Jersey Poker Champion!
Heads –Up
After about a 15 minute break to clear our heads and realise
we were the last two remaining, we return for the heads up action. It’s around 6pm and the blinds are still only
6k, 12k so there is plenty of play with 1.175million chips available.
The first big hand see’s James taking me down to about 200k,
I’m dominated and need to compose myself.
I slightly adjust my game as I regularly do in heads up play depending
on who I’m playing and how they are playing.
I find myself with pocket 5’s and after James has raised I shove all-in
to be called by A3. My 5’s hold up and I’m
back in the game with around 450-500k. I
start to win a few more hands, and I’ve taken the chip lead when I find myself
with pocket Kings. Nearly every hand has
been raised so I carried on as normal with James calling. The flop came K,J,9 and I lead out which
James calls. The turn is a 5 and this
gives James two pair as he is holding J5, I bet again and he calls. The river isn’t too scary and I put a big bet
in, which would only leave James with around 5% of the chips in play, he thinks
about it for quite some time, we play a few mind games with each other and
eventually he calls.
A few hands later we get it in with my K10 dominating James
K6 and it holds up – I’ve won it and am crowned the first Jersey Poker Champion
WHOOP WHOOP!
No comments:
Post a Comment