Tournament day 2

Well I started the day in 53rd position out of 100. I had 27,400 with blinds starting at 400 800 with 100 ante's.

Didnt see many hands for 3 levels and had 3 large stacks on my table, so stealing was too risky.

Got down to 22k and found AK in 1st position, I had been VERY tight (or at least it appeared that way lol) so I raised it minimum. Then this guy who was calling with ANYthing (he was a small stack approx 13k) He re raised me all in. NOw I knew I had him beat and I called in a flash.

He turned over AQ. Flop came all low, turn came low then the river came,,,,,, yep a Q.

That left me with 9k which with blinds at 800 1600 and 200 ante's wasnt enough and I didnt recover.

I am gutted to go out 44th, but at least I have no regrets on any hands i played - No mistakes as far as I am concerned, which is unusual for me cos I normally make some kind of stupid mistake. If only I could play to this standard online. :(

Many thanks for all your support, meant alot to me, just sorry I couldnt make that final tabele.

Also a special mention to Mark (Prince Charles) Bannin and Peta Costa who were both brilliant to me in Reno.

M3 signing off from Reno - hope u enjoyed the read

Tornament Day 1

Well I sat down at table 53 seat 3 with no stars on my table, now maybe that was good, maybe that was a bad thing. To be honest I am not sure. My table was a good mixture of players. There was one woman who was only playing premium hands but couldnt put them down no matter what came out on the board - Here is one example. She was BB and I was on the button. Everyone folded to me so i raised 3xBB (BB was 200 at the time) SB folded and she called. Flop came all junk low cards. She bets 400 and I call. Then the turn came an Ace, she checks and I bet 1000. And she called. So now I think she may have an ace. River came Q and she ckecks again, now I know she wont laydown her hand, and I made nothing I have to check as well. She turns over JJ. SHe went out by level 4 I think.

Anyway, back to the day. We started with 10000 chips with an 80 minute clock, blinds of 25 50. I fold the first hand. Next hand I am big blind and get to see the flop for free. I have 8 6 off. FLop comes K 8 2. 3 players in, first position, the SB and me.

1st position bets 100. SB folds and I call.

Turn comes Q, 1st position checks and so do I.

Then the river comes a 6. 1st position bets 200 and I just call. Show my 2 pair and take my first pot.

From there I only went below 10,000 twice.

Still on the first level (late) I managed to get to 12,500. Again on the big blind with 5 limpers, I look down and see Pocket Kings. This was the first "real" hand I had and raised it to 300 to play (7xBB) and get one caller.

Flop came 3 3 2.

I bet 500 and he calls.

Turn came 10. And I again bet 500 and he calls. So now I put him on a pair - probably Jacks.

River came a Q. I decide to check and he makes it 1500 to play. I sit and think for a while and decide to call. He turns over A 3 off suit!!! I couldnt ever put him on that hand - he called 7xBB raise with A3.

This then seem to set the trend for the table, with some crazy plays - people calling with junk.

With a small win, I find myself back to 11,000 and get invloved with the same guy who had the A3 - he was down to 9800 at the time (Blinds now 50 100). I am on the button and all folds round to this guy who raises it to 700. All fold to me UTG again and I have AK off. I decide just to call. SB folds and BB folds. So we are heads up.

Flop comes A K 2 (with the A and 2 suited) He bets 1000 and I call, after a bit of play acting :)

Turn then comes 10 (same suit as the A and 2) and he bets another 1000 - I decide to call.

Then the River comes another K (again same suit as the A,k,10 and 2). He checks and I bet 2500. He goes all in immediately. Now the only hands I can loose against are AA and QJ of the same suit. So I call.

He turns over J of the same suit, shit I think, then turns over another J

I show the FH and he goes out.

From there I found pocket Aces and pocket Kings twice!! But both in first position. And as I had been playing tight, found it hard to limp so all 4 times I raised it 4 x BB but got no action.

No cards for a while, and I am down to 16,500. Then this happened. I am BB and all fold round to SB (Blinds now 200 400) SB has around 7000. He makes a 2 x BB raise I look down and find pocket 10's. I think of putting him all in there and then, but decided to flat call. Any high card on the flop and I fold.

Flop comes 9 2 5. He bets another 1200 and I decide to set him all in. He calls in a flash and shows pocket Aces. Ooops now I am down to under 10K once again.

Managed to fight my way back to 15k when I found AK clubs in the big blind with 4 limpers. I decide just to check.

Flop comes 7 8 9 clubs !!!!!

All check to this guy (who was crazy, but catching cards) He had around 40,000 chips. He bets 3000, now I sit and think for a bit, and go all in.

He thinks, so now I know he doesnt have the straight flush. But in the end he calls. Flips over 10 J (no clubs) and I show my AK clubs.

Nice pot there and I am on 30K.

Only one level to go before we finish for the night and I decide not to get involved with any more pots and finished the day on 27,400.

Just 2 more things worth mentioning - Phil Helmuith went out with pok Q's against A Q o/s - He went all in preflop for 8000 and this guy with AQ o/s called him - Hit Ace on the flop - DID HE MOAN!!! I think the whole Casino heard him. Also the Unibomber busted out when he needed a 6 or 7 on the turn/river to survive - but he was as mad as ever, jumping around screaming for a 6 7 in his usual mad way, it didnt come and he shook the guys hand and left, with a smile - wot contrasting personalities.

Well I will post update of day 2 as soon as possible

day 2 and 3 in one

Well day 2 was pretty uneventfull as far as poker went. I only played one $110 sit and go-went out 4th (money starts at 3rd) but while sitting at the bar I felt a tap on the shoulder, it was Mark Bannin (Prince Charles). We had a chat and a wonder, then ran into Peta Costa and Pete (The Bandit) Evans.

OMG, what a top bloke!! This is one of the reasons I love the poker scene. There is me (a nobody on the poker circuit) and there is Pete , a seasoned pro, and we spent all night chatting and drinking (was all Pete's fault, it must of taken neally 2 hours to leave the casino that morning, kept stopping at the bars on the way for "one for the road". He had so many stories to tell, had me in stiches all night. Top Bloke, and Pete, if you are reading this, I hope your friend is well, and hopefully we can meet up again.

Day 3 was also uneventfull. I had planned on doing nothing as it is the day before the big comp. But I found myself drawn to the poker room. The only things happening were sit and go satelites for the big event and cash games. I watched the 50 100 no limit game for a while- wow!! Scary, there was on average $30k infront of the players. The biggest pot I saw was for just over $50k.

I decided to have a go at the $3 $5 n/l table. Sat down with $500 and this soon turned into $700. So $200 profit in less than 30 minutes, and I was gonna get up and walk away, but played a few more hands. I found myself on the BB with 6 7 o/s. First position made it $20 to play which was called in 3 spots. So with $88 already in the pot, I decided to call the extra $15. Then came the flop : Ah 7d 7s.

Holy shit!! I thought :). And checked. First position then bet $20, which was called by the other 3 so I called (now $203 in the pot.

The turn came Qh. SO with 2 hearts now on board, it was a little scary, but I decided to bet $50. All folded apart from this guy in last position who called. (so now $303 in the pot)

Then came the river : 6h - what a dream card!! It made a flush possibility with me holding the FH (I could be beaten by Q7 or A7) - I decided to bet strongly at this point and made it $150. The guy in last position announced "Raise" "another $150. So now $750 in the pot and i sat for a while, didnt put him on Q7 or even A7 so I put him on the flush, probably the nut flush. I announced all in (he had about $200 left) and he called, quickly flipped his cards over and announced "Nut Flush" and proceeded to reach for the pot (now $1150+) at which point I flipped over my 7 8 and showed the FH.

A few hands later I left with just under $1300 - not bad for an hours work. :)

No more poker today or even drinking - early night (well 12.30) ready for tomorrow.

Update from Reno

Well I didnt get to sleep on the friday till 3am (left everything till the last minute as usual)

Woke up at 8am (ready to leave by 9am) only to find a total flat tyre on my car, great start!!! Went to the garage and had a new tyre fitted (£90) probably could of fixed the one i had, but didnt really have time to mess about.

Left Cambridge at 10am and arrived at Gatwick at 11.30 (typical no traffic) with my flight at 2pm. Checked in ok and just sat around till 1pm when I checked in and went into the departure lounge. Was going to buy some aftershave duty free but the exchange rate for $'s was 2.11!! Rip off bastards!! So I didnt bother.

Boarded the plane, not looking foward to 10.5 hours without a smoke :(

Sat next to an american who was very chatty, and before I knew it 2 hours had passed. Then lunch came out (so that was another hour gone) Then watched "Hostage" - as i took my portable DVD player + some films on disk (Shhhhhh) Also let the American plug his headphones in so he could watch it as well. Also watched 8Mile as I had never got round to seeing it.

That left about 3.5 hours to kill and i just dozed on and off. Got to Dallas at 7.30 their time, god it was cold!!! Had about 4 ciggies before my flight to Reno (3hour flight)

Got to the hotel at 12pm their time and checked in ok, paid for internet in my room and went to my room. I was going to crash out, but decided to have a walk round the Casino first, so off I went.

MY GOD!!! I was shocked at how big it was!! There are around 500 fruit machines here (biggest jackpot currently $3.5mill) and even the bars have machines built in at every seat. I was also suprised at the proces, not much different to the UK. $6 for 20 ciggies, $3 for a bottle of beer.

Anyway an announcement came over the tannoy saying 2 seats left for a $210 STT. I decided to walk down and play a game. I sat at the table and when it was full, they asked for $170. This confused me as I thought I was on a $210STT. But I had sat at the wrong table, and actually sat at a Satelite table for sundays $1500 MTT. I paid the $170 and started to play.

The play was VERY aggressive, with big raises with KJ (and such like) with people calling with Rag Ace. (It was 10 handed so I was quite suprised). I sat out alot and just watched while these maniacs knocked each other out) It got down to 4 left and I changed gears, i limped into a family pot in late position, and when a bet of 200 was called infront of me, I moved all in (with nothing) as I had made a VERY tight table image. Sure enough they folded. Then I picked up a few hands and hit flops and got down to heads up. We were even in chips (I had 500 more) and he asked if i wanted a deal. This would of given me $800 in tournament chips (used for buying into tournaments) so I declined and decided to play on as the $800 tournament chips were useless to me.

The very next hand i am SB and have AKsuited (5500 in chips vs 5000chips, blinds 200 400). I raised to 2000 and he moved all in. I called and he turned over pok Q's. The board gave me no help and now left me with 500 vs 9500 chips. SO I am all in on the BB and find K 10 which holds up. Next hand I have A 5 and move all in. He calls with QJ and my A5 holds again. Now I have 2000 chips and am BB. He moves all in, I look down and have K 10 suited and call. He had K J and i spiked a 10 to double up again to 4000. Then stole a few blinds and got back to level. I then asked if I could sell the tournament chips if we did a deal, and was told yes. As it was now 4am and I hadnt slept for ages and the MTT started at 12noon (2 day event Sun and Mon) with the WPT event on Tuesday, I decided to take the deal. So all in all, one game played $170 wagered and winnings of $800 not too bad. Then went to bed and slept till 12.15.

Well thats all for now, more to follow - hope u enjoy the read, I am trying to tell everything about my experience, as much for my record.

Thought I would get one of these

Well, thought it was about time I got myself one of these.

Main reason being, that alot of people want to know how I get on in Reno at the end of March (3 weeks and counting ) in the WPT challenge event $5100 buy in.

For those of you who dont know, I qualified online at VC for 2 x $129 (buy in and add on).

This event is over 4 days (will I make it to the 4th day?!?! fingers crossed) and is not my first live experience, but my first WPT event and certainly the largest I have entered. Previous to this was a £600 buy in freezeout at Luton (I finished 19th - bubble :( )

So stay tuned for a detailed account of my time in Reno :)