Betfair / Pokerplayer Grand Prix Report.

Betfair/Pokerplayer Grand Prix report.

After winning freeroll 2 back in November, which was a feat in itself with 640 runners, I finally got the details of the live final, which was held at the City Bunker in Canary Wharf on 16th May. The main prize was a £12,000 seat package to the WSOPE, with the final table sharing $3000. 40 qualifiers plus a number of Pokerplayer staff would make up the field.

After looking at the details, I decided to take the train down in the afternoon and then just hang around until 7am and get return train from Kings Cross to Wakefield. Cost £11 each way (brag).

Trouble free journey down, I managed to find my way to Canary Wharf on the tube. I had arranged to meet Carl and Rog (Carl was in the tournament) via the Pokerplayer forum, as they were also planning to stay out all night. Trouble was I couldn’t find my way round Canary Wharf for love nor money, which is a mightily impressive place by the way, but after an hour’s wandering I managed to meet up with the guys for a couple of pints in Wetherspoon’s before we made our way to the venue.

City Bunker

The venue is an indoor golf simulator and also hosts the odd poker event and was a decent place with a bar. No guinness here so I started on the bottled beer with my free drinks tokens, had a chat with the guys and thought about having a few swings on the golf simulator. Before taking golf side bets I found out that Carl played off a handicap of 1, with Rog being 4, so I thought better of that. Had a few goes but was a bit nervous of the poker, so decided not to bother.

At this point I didn’t know the structure, but any tournament that starts at 7 and needs to be done by 2am is going to be reasonably fast paced. It turned out to be 3,000 chips with 30 minute blinds, dealer dealt. Therefore I had decided that with one main prize and perhaps a few nervous players that I was going for it from the start. I think my experience in MTTs and my stack management skills may actually give me an edge here, given that any major pot is going to make/end your tournament.

The Start

It started about 40 minutes late and when I took my seat I realised I had the only sit out to my left, then a player I recognise from APAT/Virgin events (Runadrum), who is pretty solid. I also had a pokerplayer (Rick Dacey) 2 to my right. Rest of the table I didn’t know. I wished Carl luck and we took our seats, I felt pretty confident after my win the previous Friday.

First hand and I am on the SB, Runadrum raises UTG and Rick shoves on him. I have a feeling he is messing around, as basically the Pokerplayer staff have nothing to lose as they cannot win the main prize. Runadrum folds 7s and Rick then tells the table he had a side bet that he would shove the first hand, fortunately he had AK (apparently).

Thinking that the sit out might change the table dynamics a bit, I decided to raise the next hand from the button when it folded to me. I had J9o and made it 200, Runadrum called from the big blind. Flop was J high and he came out firing 300. At this point I don’t want to be first out, so I flat call and decide to re-assess with position. Turn is a blank and he checks, I check behind as I put him on a J but maybe out-kicked. River is Q and we both check and show down the same hand, must admit my surprise at his preflop call, but at least I am evens and a bit of information to boot.

After I while and a few raised pots later, I realised the table was very limp/fold/passive apart from the guy 3 to my left, who seemed to be my rival for table captain. I managed a few steals with favourite hands like 57s, 68s. I even c-betted against someone with 44 on a AKQ flop, which after a long thought they folded. Basically I was abusing position, betting frequently and was getting away with it. One pot was taken away from me post flop when the aggressive guy called my raise from the SB then lead out on a raggy flop, so I decided to muck my best starting hand AJ. But I had gone from 3k to 5k pretty easily without showing a hand in about 45 minutes.

In this time, Runadrum had taken out Rick Dacey with AA v a straight draw, so had more chips than me. However I had probably raised his BB from the button about 5 times out of 6, mostly with reasonable hands. However the aggressive guy showed himself to be a bit too much so when he crippled himself with second pair when it was obvious his opponent had a monster. This gave me carte blanche to be table captain, although I did appreciate that with his short stack of about 1200, he was liable to re-shove me at some point.

5 limpers in one pot at 50/100 and I am on the BB with J4, flop 449 and I decide what the best move is. Hoping a limper has a pair I decided to use my aggressive image and lead for 300, to which everyone insta-folds, how disappointing. Maybe could have played it slower, who knows?

Blinds now 50/100 and a guy in EP who hadn’t played a hand raises to 400 and I look at 22. Now I know a call here isn’t great but felt I could also play him post flop if I missed and possibly stack him if I hit. I called and missed, he lead and I told myself off for being a bit too loose.

Comes round to me on the button again and I have KJh, so I make customary raise to 275. Runadrum in BB calls me. Flop is Q76 with 2 clubs and he checks. I decided that with all my c-bets before I would check behind and try representing the turn instead. Turn is a rag and Runadrum bets 300, I decide to raise to 800 on a stone cold bluff. He calls so it looks like I may have to fire river. River is lovely, the Ks and he checks so I value bet 1000. He folds and tells me he has a lower pair than Q. I thought my line was pretty strong here and mixing things up can’t do any harm.

I get AK on BB and get 5 limpers again. I “squeeze” to 1000, basically saying “lets gamble” to all the stacks shorter than me and taking advantage of my image. Everyone folds, a couple reluctantly.

Basically I had gone from 3k to about 8k now without even showing a card and I think the table were starting to feel that I was taking the piss or a card rack.

Mid Stages

With blinds going up I was still amazed how many people were limping and basically playing so passively. I felt good about this. All I needed now were some premium hands.

I get AKd at 75/150 and raise to 375 from MP and again I get flat called from the BB (who was pretty passive). Flop is Q96 2 clubs and I bet 500 when checked to, he calls. Turn is Qc which is an obvious scare card. He checks therefore I don’t put him on either hand that likes this card so I fire 950. He says “I know you don’t have this” and then folds! Lord knows what he was calling me with.

At the start of the 200/400 level I had just under 11k and still hadn’t showed down a card (apart from hand 1 split pot). I don’t feel I could have played much better and also had set things up for me to get paid if I got a big hand later. Even the guys that had won pots early were in danger now as they hadn’t progressed their stack and most were stuck on or below 10bbs or starting stack through just folding away. Obviously this was now getting to the crucial middle stages.

I get AK on the button and with a couple of new guys at the table, I thought this was ideal, making it 1100 to go. My image from the button was so bad, I felt something was going to happen soon. To my surprise Runadrum flats me from the BB again, for about 1/3rd of his stack. Flop is KJJ and I had an awful feeling, he checks to me and I have no choice but to bet the 2000 that puts him in, he calls with QJ and I am gutted, back just over 6k and back to the pack with my nemesis hand. To be honest I wasn’t that impressed with him calling off from the BB there with his stack, if he felt I was at it from the button he should have re-shoved on me, but hey-ho.

I am quiet for a bit but my image can’t be that bad now as I had shown down a hand that was premium (if people chose to notice). Therefore I get back on the horse with a raise from the cutoff with Q9 to 1000, the SB calls half of his stack, which is a bit suspicious.
Flop Q104 rainbow and he insta-shoves last 900 into the pot, which I snap call. He shows A10, turn is blank and the river is an ace. I feel the previous luck from that last 6 months all of a sudden coming back to me, people playing oddly and still beating me. This puts me just under 4k and all my great work from the first couple of hours has been undone. Dean of 6 months ago would have gone on super-tilt and been out within 2 minutes. I knew that on this passive table my no fear, aggressive style could still play dividends though. I was going to put people to the test.

It was bulldoze time for sure, any spot to get my chips in I would and I was still one of the main stacks at the table as people were hanging on with small stacks, not sure why.
This lead me to shoving with QJ 3 times, A10 and pocket 9s (3rd pair I had all night and best one of the lot) throughout the 200/400 and 300/600 levels, as well as a couple of rag hands from easy places like the button and SB. I changed gears, the others didn’t. This saw me double my stack (about 8k) without showdown, which is good because I run like crap all in pre-flop.

Blinds change to 500/1000 and people now can’t afford to keep folding, each pot is worth taking and if people keep limping my BB, I will take it. After a few hands I look at AK in the BB and think “here we go again”. Runadrum shoves 4.5k from EP and I pray and call for just over half my stack. He tables KJc and the ace on the turn confirms the pot for me. I say good game and now I am back in business with just over 13k. Our table is broken as there are about 18 left. I had just under 10% of chips so healthy on average.

Last 2 tables

Just as I sit down at new table and start piling my chips, I get 66 and so I insta-raise to 2700, to look strong. I did this without checking out the stacks at the table – oops. BB calls and I realise he has 900 chips left after calling. Flop is AJ4 and he checks so I bet to put him in. He calls with Q10o and thankfully doesn’t improve with his overcards or gutshot and I have about 18k.

So I am back to being one of the bigger stacks in the tournament and as blinds are getting severe, players are starting to go out regularly. We are told the final table will be 8 players and there are about 14 left.

A few hands later and a guy who was playing weirdly min raises my blind from the SB to 2k and has about 6k back. I look at A2c and shove and he insta-mucks. A couple of other raises and I am sitting well on around 22k.

Blinds go up to 700/1500, so just about everyone is in the red zone. I make a raise with AQ and take down the juicy blinds so have around 24k.

Then on the BB and the button limps with under 3bb, which is a bit odd. I have Q9. Flop is J83 and I decide to just bet the 2000 that puts the guy all in and he calls with AK. I lose and am back to just over 20k, another bizarre play in my book.

Then UTG I get 44 and raise to 4000. The guy next to me (who I have as a uber-tight nit) insta-shoves for 11k. Now I don’t like this, the odds seem obvious but the small margins we are now working in makes this a tough call, as I go back into the pack if I lose and all my good work is undone again. I was wondering why I just didn’t fold preflop and initial reaction was he had a bigger pair and I should fold despite the odds offered, couldn’t see a bluff near the bubble of the final table and I knew I would be gambling at best. I decided to start talking to him. I said “this would be a sick call, I know you have a big pair or possibly AK, I’d be calling hoping you had AK as I know how tight you are”. He reacted by saying “I wouldn’t shove AK” and this made my mind up and I called for just under 7k more. He had AK and my hand held, I think he thought my call was very fishy but I think I trusted my read and went for the win.

This put me over 30k and I was chip leader with 11 left. I then took out a short stack from the BB when he shoved 2.5k and I called with KQ and his J7 didn’t improve. I had 34k at this point.

Crucial Hand

I then look down at my best hand of the night QQ. The guy who limped the button raised to 4500, so I made it 15,000, which covered the table. He called all in for his 11k and we were playing a 23k pot with QQ v AJ, this would be huge for me. Him flopping trip aces, then turning a boat meant I was drawing dead and I was back to 23k, level with this guy. A defining hand in my opinion.

3 hands later I get KK and the guy to my right shoved for about 4k and I isolated to 15k again. He had A6 and the all club flop gave him the nut flush draw as well (I had Kc), thankfully I dodged all bullets and this made the final table, I was chip leader I think with 30k, but blinds were now 1000/2000 and because the tourney was behind schedule, the TD decided antes were now required (200 each hand). So we were playing for a £12,000 prize and now the skill level was reduced a bit further. However I still felt my endgame could still have an edge here. During the short break a couple of people told me I was the favourite to win, oh dear lol. Was still thinking about the QQ hand though, would have had about half chips in play at the final table if that holds….

Final Table

For most of this final table I was just completely card dead, so I couldn’t really exert any pressure, so I decided to just slow down a bit and steal where I could. Noticed a couple of people with decent stacks playing oddly and one guy blew his stack calling a reraise with a10, then calling all-in drawing to a gutshot, weird. The guy 2 to my left let me steal with gay abandon despite being short, so I kept doing it to maintain my stack, plus I got a few walks as well. Also noted that some were being passive again, with the prize in mind, although the guy 3 to my left was shoving reasonably often.

One shortstack managed to crack KK with J7o, but it wasn’t long before we were 4 handed and the blinds were 2000/4000/400A, so basically all players were in the red zone, 7600 in the middle every hand and it was push and pray time. I had 45k and was about the chip leader, we were fairly even with one shortish stack. I decided to go for the win, the only way I know how to play.

I tried to pick my spots but was getting rags and stealing with rags, the tournament would be decided when a hand ran into another, simple. This is where I made my biggest mistake….was down to about 39k due to blinds going through etc and looked at my best hand at the FT, KQs on the button. But the shortish guy limped, with about 6bbs and hadn’t come across as tricky/trappy. This threw me. First instinct was to shove, then just fold and I did the worst thing, called behind (total brain explosion). So we had a 4 way pot and a A84 flop which was checked round to me, into which I tried to steal with a 9k bet and I got shoved on by the SB and had to fold. I don’t need telling how badly I played this hand.

So down to 24k, its time to get aggressive. I shove from the SB a few times to maintain my stack then get A9 in the SB and the guy UTG makes a raise to 9k for about the 3rd time in 4 orbits. I ask for a count, then shove all in 24k, he has me covered. He ponders for a while and folds. My stack is back to where I was around 42k mark.

Blinds are going up soon and I stay on 42k. In the BB and I have Q10c. The SB had been shoved on a lot and was getting short, he shoved for 17k from the SB. Now, he can be doing this with any two cards and I know the value of pushing rather than calling. I decide the pot is giving me the right price, I have him covered and this would make me clear CL so I call. He has A6o and I am in reasonable shape. He flops the 6 and I miss everything, so I am short again and the blinds are going up to 3000/6000/600A.

Gutted

Next hand I get K4d and shove, which I think is standard. This time the BB wakes up with AJo and calls. By the turn I have a flush draw and a live overcard but miss everything. I am out and take $500, but was gutted not to take the £12,000 package. The way I have been playing lately I really felt I could do the seat justice. If I had have made HU, I would have been confident of prevailing but not to be…

Carl, Rog and I decided to get back on the beers, walked round Canary Wharf for a bit at 3am and then flagged a taxi to Egg club near Kings Cross station for a few hours heavy drinking and a few laughs. Got breakfast about 5.30am, spoke to Jeff for a bit then caught my train home.

Big thanks to Carl and Rog, good lads both of you – hopefully can get them to join the forum. Thanks to Pokerplayer staff for a great night and was also nice to meet Nick Wealthall again.

Next stop the WSOP, hopefully I can continue my live game improvement in Vegas, bring it on baby!!!