Well would you really have been as interested if teh title was "Loser!", but you've come this far so read on, despite teh title being a total bluff...that you just fell for! :-)
Well, the big day came...and I have to say that despite not winning a penny, it was a great day, a great experience and a great learning curve...but where did it go wrong?
To start with, as planned I turned up at teh venue, Fox Poker Club for teh 2pm £25 bounty with a field of around 30 runners. The club itself is easy access in hear of West End and very easy to get to and find. The £10 registration fee for a two minute task of chipping a membership was expected and with the money going into buy-ins, rakes etc is money for old rope, but the norm with everything these days. The venue itself is spacious, thankfully air conditioned and well layed out, with helpful staff, from teh manager, to teh dealers and bar staff...who by the end of teh evening were calling me by my tag, "Mr G", which was a nice touch and showed teh T-shirt making an impression.
So for teh £25 2pm tournament, sat down and was some nice table talk, with no aggro and a good atmosphere with people wanting to enjoy their poker, so felt quickly at ease. Well, whilst i know that in theory you can play any two cards with position, table image, bet size etc, I would say that i have never seen so many 62, 72, 83, 94 off suited for so long...ever! I had at least two rounds where at least one card was a 2 in each hand , only saw one Ace the whole tournament, well in my hand anyway. So being new to live poker I wasn't prepared (perhaps wrongly) to attempt a move to steal as tables were reasonably loose and players looking for the bountys. Anyway, 4 hours later, and testing my patience down to final two tables with around 13/14 players left and me very short stacked. So 77, made move and shoved all in, with fold round to SB who quickly called and then raised by BG all in, which teh SB shoved too. So me 77, SB AK, BG AK...nothing hitting on flop but A on turn and no joy on river. OUT and other two players splitting my bounty. However, an enjoyable game, good banter and 4 hours well spent.
Decided food and fresh air would help before teh main £100 live event, so a quick trip outside ...bite to eat and rushed back to lap up the air conditioning.
Met three other #LPGR2012 players, although i think Ladbrokes were expecting more so not sure what happened there. So after the introductions of real and online names and a good lucks we all headed off to our tables. Pleased to say that the presence of Laddies players didn't go unnoticed and was happy to promote my table on teh wonderful opportunity that Ladbrokes had given a few lucky players...they seem suitably impressed with teh Grassroots concept!
So, teh £100 main event...how did it go?
Hmmm...see above...card dead again and patience being tested, remembering that tournament not won in first few levels, but can be lost in it! Made it to first break and from starting chips of 10k + dealer bonus of couple of k was down to just over 10k, with the couple of hands i played (mid-pairs in Mid to Late Position) being called and met on flop with picture board flops/A...standard continuation bets to show strength both times met with raises...so after turn and same results...deciding that my hands not strong enough and folding...
...despite this giving me a very tight image, and supposedly being a freezeout, nothing seemed to help apart from a couple of calls or raises by me, followed by raises by MP or LP and then re-raise by me all in on marginal hands where opponent folded, thankfully in all honesty. So chip stack maintained just below average for next three and a half to four hours. caught up with other three grassrooters on the breaks and all still in it to win it, so strong showing. However, getting frustrated at lack of opportunities to play hands rather than having to bluff most of them, but then sometimes that's the way the cards go.
As the blinds crept up to 800/1600 plus 200 ante was getting short stacked, so a couple of shoves came to steal blinds but was no sooner by my side, than back into teh middle for blinds/antes. Anyway, final hand around midnight, 5th seat out of 7 and against SB, only remaining female player who was very solid and a seemingly tight BB, who had too often raised, got re-raised and then folded. So picked up K9 suited and shoved in remaining chips, 11k, against 4k in pot...fold SB...BB shows cards as he turns them over...4, then Ace...quick think and calls, with around 4k more than me...needless to say no match on board for either of us and A high wins.
OUT in 13th...unlucky for, erm, well me on this occassion!
So, where did it go wrong? Have to say, not sure. The cards i had, of which a very low % i would call playable, i think I played well and gained maximum chips. Where i folded, I am 99% sure i was beat or odds were not good enough to call or raise, and the cards i ditched pre-flop...well apart from one occassion where on a EP raise I folded MP my seemingly ever present 84 off suit I would have had a straight...they would have lost or needed a massive bluff. Highest pair all night in teh £100 f/out was 10s and I picked up AK twice and AQ and AJ less than a handful of times.
So did i learn anything? Yes!
- Freezeout does not actually mean freezeout - it means buy-in and then if you get knocked out you can re-enter again...which is effectively a re-buy but with table re-assignment isn't it????
- Layers are good...because air conditioning is still rubbish...only a small % is teh temperature ever comfortable!
- Red bull is teh savior of staying awake,
- Taking time for decisions is good advice live (I would have played around 25% more hands if online and from teh flops I saw would have been out in 75% sooner!),
- Patience is a virtue, which i am please to say i have plenty of,
- My blackberry is naff and needs upgrading for social interaction,
- I enjoyed teh experience and wasn't fazed by playing live nor of playing at 10 times my normal online tournament stake,
- Poker players (from my experience) are all a good bunch,
- The normal online comments from bad beats surprisingly disappear when your opponent is sitting three feet away from you!
- My Ladbrokes poker gear looks good...and my home designed t-shirt not bad either...although baseball cap and sports sunglasses would have set it off a treat...hint hint Laddies ;)
- I WOULD LOVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO THIS AGAIN!
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