Side events in Manchester began with a £200 NL Hold’em freezeout on the 26th August, Pravin Khilosia beating a pretty respectable 75 other players to win nearly £5,000, a warm-up for his Main Event run to heads up.  The buy-in grew and the field shrank for the following event, the £300 freezeout, but the top prize of £4,280 gave winner Alli Mallu a decent return on investment and yet another injection of GUKPT ranking points, settling him even more comfortably in the top position.  Manchester’s players came back in force for the £100 NL Bounty freezeout at the end of the week, and Christopher Nicol took 1st place and £1,780, just pipping the seemingly unstoppable Mallu to yet another top spot.

Rewind a few days to Monday 23rd August, when London hosted its first Summer Series event: 123 players took a shot at the £300 NL Hold’em freezeout generating a prizepool just shy of £40k.  £9,000 of it went to Pratik Ghatge who was the first winner at the Vic.  He was followed by Patryk Slusarek who won the £200 NL Hold’em rebuy, and Peter Huggard who won the £200 NL Hold’em freezeout version.  London also featured a £500 NL Hold’em side event, which ordinarily would be the price tag on the main, and which brought 100 players to the felt.  Chun Law topped the results list on this one, chopping up the top spots with Matthew Moss (the monetary winner), Arkady Kielman and Martin Davis.

The final warm-up event in London was a £300 Pot Limit Omaha Double-chance freezeout, which brought in 50 players and gave winner Jonas Ovestad a prize of £4,960, with Ian Grier coming in second and Alan Vinson third.  After the dust settled on the Main Event’s second day, again a £100 Bounty freezeout concluded the Series, and 119 players went after each other’s scalps until only Ergun Macit remained (the final bounty being that of Nicolas Ekkesies).

The main thing for me was to enjoy the event and have some banter along the way but doing well wasn’t far behind and I wanted to stay in for as long as possible and give myself a chance. I knew the majority of the field well and there were four players in particular that I wanted to avoid.

• Jagz – incredible online results and I had no idea what he’d be like live. Aggressive obviously but to what extent was an unknown factor. Young and fearless, two things I am not.

• Jag – Not just because I’m too vain to wear specs and may mistake him for Jagz’s name but also the fact that he seems to read me very well, has a host of live experience as well as being a fine player overall.

• Bas – another online enfant terrible who I knew would be a potentially lethal opponent. He’s done ok live before so I have heard.

• Dean – he’s not that great but he thinks he is which can be just as dangerous…..again, if you get in a hand with Dean it’s not going to be played gently.

You can imagine my delight when I saw the seat draw….Jag on my right and Bas two to my left. Right then I decided it was no nonsense, primary hand poker for me in the early (and I feared, the only) stages of my tournament.

As if to put my nerves to the test, I was dealt KK second hand but uneventfully took down a small pot post flop. From then on for the next hour I just played primary hands strongly pre-flop and backed off if I missed. I dawdled around starting stack until the blinds began to squeeze and just waited for an opportunity to commit my stack. This wasn’t an easy task, my table (now devoid of Jag and Bas) was still packed with solid players with good live records and I knew that I just had to make a dash for it, I dashed with 44. My initial raise was shoved by a new member to the forum and I called hoping for a 50-50….he flipped AQ and the dealer answered my prayers by flopping another 4. I was off the critical list at last with an 8k stack and 15 runners left. I then managed to increase my holding further when my AQ did for Cheva’s K10. Now I was on 18k and around the stack size I wanted to get to the final table.

I watched a series of players go out and before I knew it, it was the final table. I sat between Joe Legge, the Virgin Bounty and my favourite git in the world, Ian8144. Determined to enjoy it at first just I played my cards and didn’t try any moves to see who was doing what. One by one the others were knocked out, leaving just me, Joe and the woman who knocked me out of the previous EMS live event, the formidable Baglady. To be honest I have little recollection of how I survived to this point. I am sure I didn’t knock anyone out but just managed to accumulate some chips with some timely raises. Sometimes my reputation of being tighter than a Lehman’s banker’s Christmas budget can pay dividends.

I thought we were approaching the end-game, how wrong I was.

With 192,000 chips in play we were all pretty evenly matched, there were just some mild fluctuations over the next hour and no one seemed ready to commit. I reflected on this as we took a break and decided that soon I would be the one to commit, one way or the other. The moment came when I was dealt A7 on the button. I raised and Pam (Baglady) re-raised me, as Joe dwelt over his decision I decided it was time and as he folded I did my best to look Pam in the eye and announce as coldly as I possibly could “I’m all in”. My heart pumped, my mouth went drier than Death Valley and my facial expression utilised it’s experience of looking as docile as humanly possible. Pam eyed her cards, then looked at her chips, back to the cards and again to the stack to her left……please, please fold I prayed, knowing she must have me either crushed or at best a 20-80 dog. “I have just enough left fold, sadly” she said…..never have words aroused such relief, somehow resisting the temptation to punch the air and run around the card room I sat and watched and she mucked 88. I now had a decent lead and felt for the first time that I could go on to win. We had now been three handed for two hours, it was challenging to say the least.

The next big hand came when I had 99, this time Pam shoved over the top and I called her AJ. My hand held and I went heads up with a 2-1 chip lead over Joe. I made full use of that lead by shoving A3 the very next hand into Joe’s A10…..deep breaths as we were back to parity. Back and forth we went for nearly an hour with me trying to be selectively aggressive and brave, well, as brave as I can get and managed to put Joe’s stack on the line twice but to no avail. Finally I called him with K7 of diamonds, not a great holding but I sensed Joe was ready to gamble and I was happy to take a small edge into the board. He showed Q10 and despite a 10 coming down second card I made the flush to cripple him to such an extent that he only had one blind left.

The next hand was pure comedy, we decided to deal the cards face up as Joe was all in anyway and Joe pulled a J but I got an A, “hope here” I thought but then Joe got a K to make him a decent hand, the dealer then flipped me another A, the first time all day. I just looked up disbelievingly, “Done it” I thought to myself. I really should have known better; after flopping Q10 the river came 9 to make Joe the straight, much to the amusement of the watching gallery and to an extent to me. However it couldn’t last and after one more double up I found a winning hand in the mighty K10 and it was all over.

I have a deep respect for many of the players who lined up for the event but I really cannot finish without saying how highly I regarded the play, character and decency of Pam and Joe as we battled on for over two hours. The atmosphere was a mixture of tension, camaraderie and respect and it was a pleasure to play against them both. My unbound joy was obviously matched by the watching forum members, more for the fact that it was over and they could go to the bar at last rather than that I had won but I deluded myself for a few minutes and enjoyed the congratulations hugely.

It’s always a great feeling to win a tournament but to do so amongst players that you hold in high regard and can call your friends made it immeasurably more so and I’d like to thank everyone who was there and who posted on the forum for the kind words, especially as they must have feared the consequences of such a modest man claiming victory.

Roll on 2009 and another great tourney.

HuckNall chops for 2^nd in Stake-A-Shark Tournie at DTD

After a sumptuous meal of salmon fishcakes and chips, (I’m learning to eat cheap meals after being made redundant!) I tell my wife that I’m off to get some milk – won’t be long. I head along the A610 to the Nottingham ring road and DTD. I had forgotten to tell ‘her indoors’ that I have qualified online for the prestigious Stake-A-Shark sponsored tournament, part of the eagerly awaited EMS forum weekend of fun.

On arrival, most of the usual suspects have already arrived and after a last fag I find my tournament seat. Lo and behold I’m parked next to the buoyant Stanters as usual, (Spurs have turned the corner!) – not a good start!

Just the second hand in I pick up 88 in the SB and call a raise and another call. The flop comes a juicy K 8 2 which I obviously check and following a half size pot bet, a fold, I coolly call. Another blank card is followed by another good bet which I just call again. The river looks innocuous so I check raise all in, wondering if I am gonna be the first one out, only to face a fold. Still my stack is up 65% after just two hands and I sit back smugly.

Over the next two hours I collect KK and QQ twice only to face an A on the flop and in all three hands I know I am beaten and fold – back to starting chips, but hey, I’m still in!

Around 1145 I find myself with below average stack of about 7,000 and on the same table as Chris Bayliss. He has three bad beats in ten minutes and retires to ‘the rail’ only to be replaced by Bas. Unusually for him, he is not having a good time and after a few hands I am in the BB chatting to an adjacent player when I hear Bas go all in. I pick up my cards to be welcomed by the monster KK and poor Bas disappears after producing 22 and no help on the board. Sorry Bas!!!

Past midnight now and call from my wife asking where the fxxxxxg milk is! I explain that I am at the news agents awaiting the early papers.

Down to 25 players now and cashing looks a distinct possibility as I have an average stack for a change! No real dramas until my table collapses when we reduce to the last 18 and I am moved to seat 9 with Dean on seat 1!

A few battles between us but honours are even after an hour. EMS’ers left in now were Dean, Chris Spinks, TallGuy, Camking, myself and one other who escapes me (I’m still knackered, sorry!). We are soon down to the bubble which seems to go on for an eternity and I pick up 88 again. I decide to shove UTG and get called by the BB who is the big stack. He has 85s and I am very, very happy with this and after a nice board double through to above average stack. Shortly after TallGuy unfortunately makes a departure and we are down to the final table where I am joined by both Camking and Dean.

I am placed immediately behind the big stack who has about a third on the chips in play. I am fortunate to get 2 shoving hands following a raise by him to which he reluctantly folds on both occasions. Shortly after he raises again and I pick up AA. I think about it and figure he’s got to call another shove but after dwelling in the tank he again folds. By this time, Camking has bowed out and we are down to 5 with Dean still battling well with a good stack about the same as mine.

The blinds are now 3000/1500 with antes of 300 and after a fold round to the big stack in SB, he shoves and I look down at J8 suited, and after a brief dwell I put him on crap and call. He has 83 off and after negotiating a friendly board, I double through to around 3^rd biggest stack. Dean shoves a couple of raises by myself which I decide to put down and I start getting a bit worried. I’m now a short stack so I start pushing.

A fold round to me and I look at T2 off and think that if it is good enough for Doyle Brunson I’ll give it a go and shove. I am insta called by KJ and a pretty board comes down with a couple of deuces and I’m back in the hunt. Dean gets himself involved in battle with the original big stack and they lock horns leaving leaving Dean bloodied with just dust. He shoves and regretfully makes his way to the bar. Shortly after we are down to three and I am happy that I will depart with a 4 figure reward come what may and, after all, as I had qualified in the EMS qualifier, it had only cost a fiver – so a good days work!

Its 3am and we do battle for another 20-30 minutes and the stacks become pretty even. I am thinking about my wife awaiting her milk for her cuppa so I agree to a chop which finds me in 2^nd again with £1719 and entry to a £100 buy-in event!

All in all, another good night and I must thank all those who stayed to the bitter end offering their usual encouragement and another good performance by DTD.

I finally arrive home at around 3.50am and I wake the wife up to request some refreshments and find a bottle of milk disappearing up my backside!

I sat at my 1st table after playing cash for about 2 and a half hours, so I probably wasn’t in the best shape,
but with the 10k starting stack, I knew I had some room to dance, so I decided to do what I usually do, and build up a nice stack at start.

Nothing really happens for first 30 mins, then I get 7s3s in the cutoff, it’s folded to me, I raise to 150 at 25/50, the BB was a reasonably old man, looked like the standard
live player, only re raises huge hands, always bemoans other people constantly raising, etc etc. He re raises to 450, and I know he has like JJ+ here, so I’m just looking to outflop,
or outplay on really horrible boards for him, stuff like Kxx and Axx boards, as you can find out really easily if they have it or not

Of course.. I don’t need to worry about that rubbish, as the flop comes 773, I was laughing so much in my head, thinking about how he’s going to probably kill me if this
gets to showdown! He leads for 600, I dwell, and raise to 2050. He thinks for about 10 seconds, and announces re raise as I expected, and makes it another 2000 on top!
I decided to just flat as I had position, and thought he would shove almost every single turn, whilst if I shove over top, he is likely going to fold.

So I dwelled… pulled a few faces of discontent, and then called. The turn was a ten, he thought for 5 seconds and shoved, I snap called him, he turns over JJ, and begins
to absolutely flip at me! “oh my god how can you play 73 to a re raise, you wont last long in this” etc etc, I was trying really hard not to laugh at this point!

The guy on my right then whispers to me “I don’t think he knows who you are”, I was taken back by that straight away, as I had no idea who he was! He then tells me he’s
CCTV from AWOP, and we spend the next few hours getting to know each other and joking away to each other, he certainly made things a lot easier for me after I showed the 73,
cos I was getting the usual rubbish from the other players, of course I then get aces and flop a set and pick up another pot, and in no time I was up to 25k

Then the rest of the day went terribly, I got re raised every single time I entered the pot, with hands like 99/TT, and then some ace rag steals, I also couldn’t win
a showdown to save my life! I got moved table, to my left was John Sadler, who was the person who busted me from the £500 deep stack, James (CCTV) was moved to other side
of table, sat beside Ali Mallu, who had at least 50k, and was certainly a presence at the table!

I can’t remember much from this table as I was so card dead, I did call down with 99 on a KxxTT board and the person insta-mucked river after I called after a little dwell.

Then I lost AK vs T6 AIPF for 12k pot, he decided to move his 8bb stack in after I raised to 1750 at 300/600 from UTG+1, Ali flats, and he shoves, I obviously isolate,
and Ali folds, and board comes x2345, so I was then down to 16k.

Ali then busts someone TT vs AT AIPF for like 50k pot, after he huge overshoved from the BB to this button raise.. then very next hand, I raise AT at 400/800/100 to 2000 with 14.5k,
he insta-ships from the SB, and I tank for like 3 mins, I decided to relucantly fold as I’m beat here like 95% of time and I still felt I had enough of a stack to do damage, and
I’m so used to playing the short stack that I am more comfortable with it than an average stack! Then my much needed double up comes, the guy who had T6, shoves the cutoff
for 13k, I had just shoved 99 UTG and got no action, and now in the BB I pick up AQ and insta-call, he has A8 and does not get there, back up to 27k!

Then I make my standard sick fold to live players, 15 mins left of day 1, I have 27.5k, competent player limps UTG, as he’s competent I’m sure he does it with more than KK/AA, Ali limps behind, I raise it up
to 3k with JJ in the SB, the BB (my nemesis, John), re raises to 9.6k, I know his game really well from playing with him in £500 for a long time, and then at this table
for a few hours, I fake dwell and show my jacks, I was always folding, cos I know his range there is QQ-AA, if he had AK he’d have raised bigger, he shows his aces and
I’m like yeah live poker is easy!

Then I get moved table with 10 mins left of the day, I dont recognise anyone at the table. My first bit of action was from the SB with 76os. The cutoff limps, I complete,
BB checks. Board AK6, I check, BB checks, cutoff bets 1k into like 3k pot, I think he’s full of it here as his limping range is really wide, so I bumped it up to 3.8k,
he calls after a long thought, by this stage I’m fairly certain I can get him off an ace too as it’s right before end of day 1! Luckily I get rewarded again, when the turn
comes a 6. He had about 21k at start of hand. I ask him how much he has left, and then bet 4800, he thinks for ages and folds, I take the nice pot.

Then the huge hand comes, it’s announced that it’s the last hand of the day, and I have 27.5k or so, 4 limpers, I look down at JJ on button, and contemplate just shoving
and picking up all the money, instead I raise to 6k, the blinds fold, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 6k of his 20k stack, and then the guy on my right shoves 18.2k, now, by this
stage I’m thinking wtf?! in my head, I know the guy on my right is full of crap, I mean, if you had a big hand on the last day, would you limp behind 3 others with 20bb’s?

My only worry was the guy who limp called 1/3 of his stack, and I took a lot of time to think the hand through. I just decided that these players looked bad enough that my
jacks are in reasonable shape, and of course my pot odds are huge at this point, and ship it in. UTG+1 looks at me like Wayne Rooney would if you stole his christmas dinner,
he then announces “I have absolute crap”, well played then mate? He tanks for 3 mins, and as I’m asking the dealer to call for the clock, he says he calls and turns his Q3 up,
whilst the other guy shows Q7, £300 mtt, does not matter guys! Luckily my jacks hold and I win a 70k pot, even though I had to sweat the 865 flop!

I was in a state of shock, and the adrenaline rush was huge, I was so pumped, I couldn’t stand still, I tried to help the dealer count my chips, but I was shaking like hell!

So I ended day 1 in 3rd out of 34, with 11 paid, I knew I was in great shape, but it was nowhere near over, I mean 70k at 600/1200 blinds is fine, but all it takes is to run bad in some big pots
and you are out in 30th, I went back to the hotel that evening and tried to relax, I thought about what my plan was for day 2, and decided that my best bet was to play as lower-variance game
as possible to start with, dodging all in pre-flops without a big hand etc, it’s not the optimal way to play, but it was what I wanted to do to start out, as I knew an early hit would crush my
already struggling confidence whilst in such a bad tournament spell.

So I got there on day 2, got up and running, and was down to 50k within no time, as I tried a few steals, and lost a few showdowns, and then I got back up to 70k with a few nice hands, and then with the following hand:

Ali limps button, I have KJhh in SB and complete, BB checks, board 9c4c2x, I lead 2800, Ali thinks for 30 seconds and calls. Turn is an 8, I bet 4800, he thinks for 2 minutes and then folds, my line
is top pair at worst almost always, so I feel he has to give me a ton of respect in that spot, and he knew I wasn’t a rash player, so I felt he gave up all his drawing hands and 55/66 etc

Then a huge hand for me happened, Ali limps UTG+1, I limp 76dd in next position, button limps, SB completes, BB checks, board comes 3d 4d 5x, holla? SB shoves 15k or so, BB calls and has like 16k total, Ali folds,
I think for about 10 seconds after looking the button’s stack, and go all in, he folds, and BB obviously calls, the SB had 85 for top pair, BB had 65 for top pair + open ender, which are both
of course in absolutely awful shape vs my hand, no 7 on turn or river and they are both gone, and I’m over the 100k mark, I think I had about 110k after the hand.

Then I run really really terrible for what seems like forever, from 27 left until about 20 left, I fold a load of mid pocket pairs to re raises, I get into sick post-flop spots, example:

Blinds 1k/2k, I have around 55k by this stage, Ali opens to 5k, I flat AJos, SB and BB call, so pot is like 22k. board J54, they all check, so I stab 8k at the pot enticing action from the blinds,
as I’d snap call any shove from them, they both fold after little thought, and Ali immediately announces all in. He was the 1 person I wasn’t expecting to shove the flop, and I tanked for about
5 minutes, and I just could not believe it, he’s the most loose and unpredictable player I’ve ever played against, which is why I should probably call in this spot, but I’d never seen him do this
move after raising pre flop, so I mucked, and he flipped aces, which was a deceptive play to say the least. At least I knew what his 2.5xbb raise meant compared to his normal 3-3.5xbb raises!

I dropped all the way down to 40k at 1200/2400, then managed to pick up a few pots and get back up to 65k, then the following hand happens at 1.5k/3k:

Ali limps, I raise to 11.5k with KK, all fold to him, he calls, board 984, he open shoves for effectively around 50k, a huge overbet, I insta-called, he had JT and did not get there, and I was
back up to being 1 of the chip leaders with less than 20 to go

After that hand, I just kept my stack between 110-140k, and then the bubble burst and I had 130k, and I managed to do what I do best when deep, lose every flip!, First at 2k/4k,
the guy on my right had let himself get blinded down to 40k, and he shoves the button, whilst I know he’s not shoving his whole range, I know my AQ is more than enough to get it all in,
he has 77, 1 of the strongest hands he can have, and I miss everything, instead of going into final table with huge stack, it looked like it would be less than average. But wait, there is still
time to lose more chips!, I get A2 on the button at 3k/6k blinds, the SB has 36k, I have about 70k, and the BB has me covered, I decide to open to 15k, and the SB shoves, I’m getting such good odds
that I decide to call with A2, and I was actually ahead of his KQ, and he gets there, so now I am left with 5bb and on the verge of final table bubbling, I was steaming at this point as I’d seen
all my hard work be worthless as 2 flips crushed my stack, and the hope of ending the huge tournament downswing looked over. It didn’t help it was hand for hand and taking a long time, then I got
K5hh on the button next round and shoved my stack in, the BB called with A3, and I flopped a 5, and rivered another 5 and was back up to 75k, and then someone went out, so the final table
was set, I was only on 12bb’s (and blinds 4k/8k soon into final table), but I felt confident as I just needed to double up and I would have some play. I was of course really happy to have made it,
but it could have een so much different if I win AQ vs 77, I’d have been in a really big shot of 1st without having to get lucky. Someone had 400k coming into final table, there was only 1.18mil
chips in play, and of course I got blessed with him 2 on my left, I then had 3 good players to my right, and all the worse players on other side of table, so it was a terrible seat draw for me.

Luckily I got my early double up, I went through the blinds and was down to 60k, Norwegian pro Rolf Woods raised from the hijack position to 18k, and I find QQ on the button and shove and try
to look like I don’t really care, he thinks for about 2 minutes and then decides hes getting too good pot odds to fold, and calls with KJ, board comes all low cards and I’m back in it!

Then nothing happens forever for me personally, I watch 3 others go out, I sit there folding and just moving up money/waiting for a reasonable situation to re-steal, it doesn’t come, the blinds
were about to be 5k/10k, I get QTos on the button and shove about 80k, both blinds fold, next hand i get 66 and shove the cutoff and get called by TT and don’t get there, and end 6th for just over
£1500.

I was really gutted not to have got a better finish, but there was literally nothing I could do, and I didn’t exactly run awesome, apart from the 73s, I only got my money in bad once until final
hand, and that was the K5 vs A3. I was really happy with how I played, and I feel my live tournament game is really really strong in these buyin tournaments, the next step is to test it on
a higher live stage, as then I’ll really find out what I need to do to improve my game!

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on, and big thanks to the people who came to DTD and got me drinks/kept me calm/gave me lifts to hotel!

SKY POKER UK TOUR DTD - 13^th Sept 2008

Saturday afternoon finds myself and Bill (Bill4343) sitting down for a shot at qualifying for the Sky UK Tour National Final to be held at DTD next June with a guaranteed prize pool of £25K.

Among the 120 pre-qualifiers are a selection of pros and celebrities including Maria Demetriou, Tom McCready, Richard Orford, Norman Pace, Dave Compton, Michelle Orp and several top amateur champions. We shuffle up and deal at 2pm and battle commences with a 5000 chip stack. I am on a really tight table which includes Tom McCready (the guy who plays the ‘baddie’ on the Sky Dictionary videos) with little action in the early stages which actually suits my style and after just collecting the blinds with AA and KK the first hour finds both myself and Bill with average chip stacks. I finally get some action with QQ on a raggedy flop and increase by 2000 chips just before the first break. During this period, quite a few go out including Richard Orford.

The next 2 hour section, I see little action but manage to stay around average by ducking and diving here and there. Bill has a crash when his AK runs into TT on a ATx flop and loses half his stack and at the Dinner break the field is down to around 60 with more big casualties including Michelle Orp.

We return after dinner and it starts getting serious – unfortunately Bill departs soon after the break as he is forced to make big moves with the blinds and antes kicking in. I have my first ‘big’ hand – with the blinds at 300/600 and only 8500 chips I pick up A9 suited in the big blind and hear the button raise to 2400. By this time I had decided that I wasn’t going to try and limp into the money but battle for the final table to secure a place in the Grand Final, so I shove and get an insta call with KK against me. I am fortunate to hit 2 aces on the board and I double through to just shy of 20,000 chips which is just above average with 40 odd left.

Thirty left now, I have Norman Pace on my table – the blinds are 800/1600 plus antes and I call an all-in with AK suited and find find myself in a race with JJ which I lose. Disaster, I am left with just 2000 chips so I shut my eyes and shove blind and leap to a massive 8000 chips when my T9 sucks out! Down to 24 with 20 paying and everything tightens up with the small stacks winning all the all-ins as usual, but after a further 45 minutes, somehow I find myself scraping into the money with a small stack.

For the next hour I play solid poker, shoving in position and at 11pm I am fortunate to have made the final table with second shortest stack. The final table comprises Maria, Tom McCready (who has been on my table the whole tournament) and mostly a host of DTD regulars.

The next hour I have 2 big hands which takes me to chipleader. I shove a raise with AK which wins the race against JJ and then I attempt a steal with 97 club suited only to be called with 66. The flop comes J85 with 2 clubs on board giving me loads of outs and I am fortunate to hit a 4c on the river to put me on 200,000 chips. Another 45 minutes of grinding, we reduce to 5 players including Maria and Tom and I find myself with 2^nd biggest stack. We dont see a flop for around 30 minutes before Maria sucks out a couple of times knocking out Tom and Scott Winnard. Its 1am and down to three.

I have second stack (about half of Maria’s) and we all grind a bit longer with the blinds at 10000/20000 and antes 1600. I’ll be honest and tell you that I dont have a great deal of heads up experience and didnt want to make a fool of myself against Maria so when a chop was suggested at 1.25am, I was happy to take second place. I was shattered by this time and was really happy with my performance and, of course, the £1200!

I would like to end my saying that Sky and DTD put on a flawless performance as usual and I must thank the Sky team who railed me pretty much the whole tournament offering support and encouragement and they were at least rewarded with a genuine Sky player in the top three.

Best thing about the day was the numerous new aquaintances made!

Prior to these last few months, I had never been able to win anything of note on Full Tilt. I had read many posts on various forums where posters would ask the question “Why do I win on Full Tilt but can’t do anything on Stars?” and vice versa. They have a point though. Why do some players show a negative ROI on one site but a huge ROI on another? I guess there are many factors – structure, software, familiarity with the players and so on. So for a while, I just couldn’t go deep in a tournament. I always seemed to be reloading – taking money from one site to donate it all to another.

Then a few months back, I had a breakthrough. I final tabled the 24k gtd for around $2.5k and then went on to final table a couple more in the following few weeks. I think this was just down to the increased volume I was putting in but at last, I was winning at Full Tilt!

My wife and I had arranged to go to Coventry on Bank Holiday Monday but on Sunday, decided not to. This meant I was free to play poker Sunday night otherwise I wouldve just gone to bed early.

I fired up the FT 24k, then the stars $3 rebuy at 7 15pm and the EMS league match followed at 8pm before signing up for the $200k on stars at 8 30pm

I was actually out of the rebuy before the first break. I couldn’t seem to build my stack up and when I did, I was sucked out on and lost it all. I really couldn’t be bothered with it so came out of it just before the league match started. It wasn’t long before I was out of the league match and the stars $10 so by 10pm, the only tournament I was left in was the $24k gtd on FT.

I was trying out something different tonight. I said to myself, instead of doing regular late position steals I would instead do much more resteals. I knew this was a higher risk strategy but I thought by not opening up in late position so much that I would give myself a tighter image in order to make my resteals look like monster hands. This strategy would have to wait until I had built up a stack though, as I knew I needed chips to pull that off.

So I needed chips first and I decided that tonight I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for them. If an opportunity to double or triple up came with a marginal hand, I was going to take it.

The first opportunity came in the first hour or so. I held TT in MP and UTG+1 opens for 360. He had around 6k chips same as me so I flatted looking to either set mine or see a nice flop to push him off. The BB had other ideas. He shoved for around 4k. UTG+1 then isolates. If I was analysing this hand afterwards it would be a clear fold, but I was in gamble mode and hit call. I was shown AK and A9o. My TT held and I nearly tripled up.

I then hit a quite amazing run of all my hands holding up when it mattered. My TT held against AJ when he hit J on the flop but I turned a str8. My JJ held vs AQo, I hit trip Kings with AK versus JJ and my AK beat TT by rivering a straight. Ok, I lost a couple of flips in between but these were against smaller stacks that didn’t really hurt me. The thing was – other than the initial TT earlier, I was never risking my tournament life as I chose my spots against those who had smaller stacks. It just goes to show that you only have to have a couple of those flips go the wrong way and it’s adios.

So I reraised and chipped away through the money bubble – the thing about the 24k guaranteed is, like a lot of tourneys at this level, once you are through the bubble, the players drop like flies. It isn’t that long before you’re down to the last 9.

The final table was where all the drama started. From experience, final tables seem to go a bit like this. The stacks always go really big to really small. Theres always a huge chip leader and theres always someone whose tournament life is hanging by a thread. The people in between wont take any more risks because they are waiting for the small stacks to get knocked out so they can move up the pay ladder. The big stacks take advantage of this and get even bigger. Sometimes the smaller stacks are small because they’ve blinded their way to the final table and they are so happy just to have made it that they don’t mind shoving with J8o the moment they get to the final table.

With this in mind I was determined to get involved at every opportunity and build my stack back up to a level where I could compete for 1st. This would mean taking a huge gamble, as I did not want to sit back and wait like the others.

It wasn’t long before we were down to 8 and I was dealt 77 utg. I had raised a couple of times prior to this and been reshoved on. I couldn’t call as I was raising with rubbish so I needed a double up and soon. My stack was around 11 big blinds. I open shoved into 7 players and get called by the big blind with ……………………… AA. I kicked myself because I knew the shove was just plain wrong – but the suckout of all suckouts happened and I rivered a 7 to double me up and I was now 2nd in chips. A couple of hands later I open on the big blind with Ako and a guy with 10 big blinds shoves. I thought about it and decided to call. He showed QQ and I was back down to 10 big blinds. A couple of hands after that and I’m dealt 88 in the BB. The button, who had been fairly active, raises to 3x. I shove on him with my 88 and he instacalls showing Ako. Its not AK’s night and my 8s hold to cripple him and I’m back up there again.

I was now about 3rd in chips and changed gears again. I was relentless, hammering into people all over the table but in a very controlled way – I would fold if reshoved on and call if the odds warranted a call – before long I was a huge chip leader so I changed gears again and my aim was to start knocking out the shorties. I was amazed at how easily some opponents would just roll over for you if you attacked them. I OPRd some of my opponents and barely any of them had cashed over $1k in life totals on FTs MTTS. Before long I had knocked most people out and we were down to 3 people. I knew that providing I avoided a bad beat that this was going to be my night.

At this point, I also had one eye on Connolly! who was deep in the Sunday warm up and this seemed to inspire me even more. I had deliberately not started a rail thread on EMS because I knew I would just start chatting to the railers and lose my focus – I really needed this win.

A game of raise the button ensued and it was a case of who would blink first. I worried about the guy to my left most of all who seemed to have a number of supporters in the chat box so did not want to face him heads up if at all possible. He seemed to make a few good laydowns earlier on and very rarely showed down rubbish. I managed to knock him out a few hands later and it was just me and my opponent heads up. I had about 4 million in chips and she had just under 1 million. I was delighted to be playing her because she was a straightforward player – she bet when she had something and checked when she didn’t.

I started to limp from the button and everytime I limped, she would do a small raise. The thing was…if she missed the flop she would check so I would bet and she would fold EVERY time. It was great as she just didn’t seem to have any clue about position. We followed this pattern for a few hands before she decided just to shove the lot in after I limped the button. I held JTs and insta called for her to turn over 79s. A Jack came on the flop and I knew I had won it. My hands were shaking and I had just taken down a huge cash.

The second Virgin Poker Festival was a big success for me personally, as well as an even bigger success for EMS. With 230 runners, and a £28,000 prize pool, it was definitely worth qualifying and turning up for! I played, quite possibly, the best poker I have ever played across the two days, and one hand probably cost me the victory. I started off playing a very tight game and just gradually built my stack up, until I won a big pot with aces and got myself up to 22,000 chips (10,000 starting stack, 40 minute blinds), I then spent about 4-5 hours around that stack, dwindling, playing very patiently, just making the odd steal. Then I finally got all in for the first time, with 44 vs AQ, which held, and I was up to around 40,000, I then turned on the style and went to my normal game, very aggressive, I ended day 1 in about 6th in chips, with 49 remaining, EMS still had 10 members in the tournament. I started day 2 very very tight, and my only moment of madness was re raising all in with 96s vs Lucy Rokach, although she eventually folded after a long delay. I then built my stack up to around 200,000, with 2 tables left. I then knocked 2 or 3 players out, and was raising almost every hand, and ended up with almost 500,000 going into the final table.

I was sat to the left of Lucy, who had me just about covered, between us we had around a million of the 2.2 million chips in play, so everyone else was playing catch up, two other EMS’ers made the final table, Chris Baylis and ramchip, who managed to go out the very first hand of the final table as he only had 4 bb’s and it was folded to him, so had to go with it. I then won a huge pot off Lucy Rokach which put me up to around 950,000. She limps in the small blind, I check in the big blind with Q2 of spades, the board comes 9 7 2, with one spade. She bets around ¾ of the pot, I call as I know she is very aggressive and is likely to take a stab at any pot. The turn is another 2, giving me trips. Lucy checks, I thought that was quite a strange play as that’s really unlikely to have helped my hand, and I thought if she had nothing, she may stab again, so I decided to bet around half the pot as a tempter, she announced all in and I instantly called and fistpumped, she had 95 for top pair, the river was a blank and I was huge stacked. I then spent the next few rounds getting constantly re raised, apart from when I had kings and everyone managed to find a fold…!

Then the crucical hand, this is taken from my blog entry on the situation, which can be found at http://eatmystack.co.uk/bas/

I had K4 on the button, and raised to 55k at 10k/20k still, the SB flats (really unusual), Chris B folds. Board comes JT8, he takes an age before leading 60k, whilst betting 60k, I spot his hands shaking, and the way he said his bet made him sound really weak, and I didn’t feel he was a very big thinker so wouldn’t be pulling off some kind of tell bluff. The turn was an Ace, and I was expecting him to check, and I was going to bet 100k, instead he starts to shake even more, and then announced 80k. I had 3 decisions going on in my head, I knew he wasn’t happy about the situation, I could either fold, let him pull off this weird donk-bet move, move on and still be happy, my favourite option which was to raise to 180k, a small raise that didn’t commit me, and showed serious strength, or just to shove and make him have a huge decision. I started counting 180k of my stack and then for some reason announced all in, he looked across at me and just said call, I could not believe he called so fast, as you could tell by me slamming the table in the video which you can see here: http://www.thenutz.tv/videodetail.php?video_id=66521

I then got into a couple more tangles with this guy and went out in 4th after trying to make a hero call on the river with 3rd pair, and ended up around £2000 richer, but I couldn’t help think I should have taken it down. Still there is plenty of time in the future, and it was a great weekend.

I hope to see everyone in Nottingham in June for the next one

Despite EMS having over 40 of the 230 field main event, I spent pretty much the whole of Saturday without any familiar faces on my table. This meant I missed out on a bit of banter, but probably helped my tournament chances not having to play against anyone who knows my game. Saturday’s poker was a rollercoaster for me. I managed to get away from KK vs AA on level 1 for only a third of my stack. I then had better luck with KK later in the day, when I won a 3-way allin preflop against AJ and AQ which gave me a decent stack, well above the average. A couple of harsh spots and lost cpinflips meant I finished the day below chip average, and needing to get busy from the off on day 2.

We returned to Aspers on Sunday with quite a few EMSers in the 49 remaining players.

25 were to get paid so the money was in site, but deep down I was hoping to final table. I got a double up early with JJ then won a big pot with JJ and again later against AK. The money bubble burst and then players seemed to drop out really quickly and in no time at all we found ourselves on the final table bubble. I lost a load of chips with AQ vs 33 that would have knocked the other guy out, but then the very next hand the same guy knocked someone out and we were down to the final 10.

The final table was a great experience. I started 7th in chips but was short enough to only have one move. My stack yo-yoed until I finally found myself short enough to be forced to move with any two cards. I pushed with 87, got called by AK and didn’t improve to finish in 5th place for £1750.

Playing the final table with the lights and cameras, and so many people watching seems like it would be very daunting, but I actually surprised myself by not feeling nervous at all. I also wasn’t thinking about the money at all until after I was knocked. While playing, I simply wanted to win for the achievement, not for the cash that came with it. In the end I was disappointed to go out, but I look back on the whole weekend now with a great sense of pride/achievement. The support from all the EMSers present was fantastic and made me feel extremely honoured. I’m just glad I was able to turn in a good performance that I, and hopefully EMS, can be proud of. Bring on the next one……!