With an hour to kill before we start I sit down with £50 in the £1-£2 no limit cash game. Cash games at The Sovereign play like a reenactment of the Somme - it’s a war of attrition, people flinging there chips into the middle like a mad General playing toy soldiers. I see all ins called for £100+ with A3 vs QQ within minutes, and true to form the Aces win - the guy hits so many aces that I wonder if we’re not dealing off a blackjack shoe.
I spend the hour spinnig £50 down to £35, not really playing a pot. Nuts peddling is the only way I know how to play this table, and becomes impossible to do without once having the nuts. Grinding is broing, and I remember why I don’t play cash.
I chat to some of the regulars, who haven’t seen me for months but are always friendly. I can’t say the same for myself - most of these people have laid the kind of beats at my feet that would cause the Census beurau to question the laws of probability.
The tournemnt starts a half hour late - you can set your watch by it. A better showing they I expect - 54 people bother to tip up on a wet sunday afternoon to play the least gambling tourmement of the week. Most our out of thier depth - you can tell by the way they think about thier hands for a good thirty seconds before they fold. If this was a rebuy they’d be all in without a second thought, but tonight they play tighter than a diamond's arse.
I won’t bother you with the first three levels - I play slow, I get card dead, I get a rush. KK, folded after I raise preflop, then the flop when it doesn’t bring the ace. Next hand I get AJ on the button, get six limpers before I pump the pot up with a 7BB raise and everyone goes away. The I get AQs, get five limpers and do the same - this time with two callers. The flop comes 456 rainbow, and gets checked to me - so I raise half the pot, promptly get a call and a reraise all in, and an instafold from me. The caller does what he does best - calls - and I thank the lord I didn’t flop an ace. Surely I’m looking at a straight vs a set - pure cooler. And then the fucking mooks show thier hands - 67off from the calller, and K7 from the raiser. The board bricks out and the top pair wins. “I woulda folded JJ there.” Incredulous, I shake my head.
The break comes, and so does the shit talk. All fun, all nice, but with a little edge. Everyones a Hellmuth, and as such everyones a cunt. Myself included. I talk to Jason about the hands, we laugh, share some beats. Jason’s lost half his stack by getting outplayed by a fucking whack job with 10 high. Looks like some of the rebuy spirit might still be in the air.
Back after the break, and more of the same. I get into a etiquette argument, and tell a guy to fuck himself. He gets moved and I get lucky. With blinds at 100-200 I’m the small blind with 67d, everyone limps to a middle position who raises to 600, gets called by the button. I take a flyer, and one of the limpers call. Flop comes down A 4 8, and we check around, so now I know some one's fucking huge. Turn comes my gin card, a black 5 ball, and I bet half the pot. UTG fold, and the original raise min raises me to 2400, button calls, so I bump it up to 5500, leaving myself with 2000. Original raiser goes all in, button folds and I call. Trip 8’s vs my stright, the board bricks for the slow player, and he quietly bemoans his bad luck. Hold Em can be so easy.
So now I’m pretty fat, make some bluffs, make some hands, and I finish the break with 28,000. The blinds start at 300-600, so I’m a long way from safe.
The next hour and a half are odd - my high point is 35k, I knock two people out with AK and Aces, both times they push against me. I get moved tables and it’s the exact opposite - I’m zigging when I should be zagging, I’m playing bad, and I’m card dead, and I finish the 600-1200 level where I started - 28k. On the break I chat to one of the dealers - I’m playing on a time table, and it’s a long taxi ride home. I tell him by the next break I’ll be at 70k or out. My last train is at 11:40pm, and worst case scenario will see me on it.
I like to keep my promises, and get a big opptunity. With the blinds at 800-1600 I raise to 5k with JJ. The guy next to me - not exactly a student, but about as smug as the worst calls me on the button. The blinds fold. He’s been doing chip tricks all day, but he’s also got the worst habit a good player can have, Creative Play Syndrome. CPS isn’t bad most of the time, but this fucker can’t help himself, he’s read to many books, and plans to use everything in one hand.
No reraise tells me he doesn’t have a monster - Aces and Kings would look to reraise, especially from a good player. Queens might smooth call, AK might, any pocket pair. The flop come down QQ2, and I’m pretty sure I’m winning - the pots big, and I wanna get all the chips in now, before the ace or king hits and I fold. Check raising all in would be best, a bet out might not get the call, but the check raise will. So I check, and he checks behind. The turn brings the 10, and I bet 7.5k, and imedietly get reraised all in. Now I really have to think. AK seems unlikely, and only gives him 6 outs. A queen would defo play like this, so would a set of tens. But so would almost any pocket pair. He’s either huge or thinks he’s winning.
I always read smugness for strength. When someone thinks they know they’ve done something clever, they look strong. But doing something clever doesn’t mean they’ve got the best hand. I don’t want to put him on one hand, but if I do, he’s gotta have a-10 suited. If he does, I’m winning. It’s 11:00, and I’ve gotta get chips ir get gone. So I call. He turns over 33, says nice call, and ships it. No three on the river. Nice hand sir.
Next circuit and I bust a medium stack with A8. She raises 2.5bb, I flat call in the cutoff, and so does the big blind. The flop comes a k8x. She bet 6k, and I call. The turn comes a baby spade, giving me second pair and a nut flush draw. She bets 6k again, and I call. River comes an 8, she bets 12k, and I put her all in. She thinks, calls so passivly that I now feel bad that I’ve cracked aces. I turn over my a8, she knuckles the table and looks like she might cry. She had k10.
Now I’m super fat, and coast to the final table with over 80k. We’re 9 handed, first is £2200. We cut £200 off top, £100 of second, so nine through seven pay £100 each. There’s a couple of short stacks, but it’s all pretty even. CPS is still to my left.
I stay tight for the first few rounds, folding AQ under the gun, folding pocket sevens to a small raise. I’m waiting for something big before I commit. The taxis gonna cost me a minimum of £100, so I want at least £400 for my endevours. And eventually I get it. I’ve blinded down to 52k when a local grinder, Greg, raises all in, for 51k. All the dealers hate Greg as he doesn’t tip, so I’ve at least got that on my side. I repush, and no one calls. I’m sure I’m infront, I’m sure of it. 70-30 baby, show me your AJ. Except he hasn’t got AJ, he’s got AQ, and we’re off to the races. Flop comes babies, turn comes baby, river come paint. But good paint, a king. So I’m up to 120k.
Turns out that the rebuy spirit is in tonight, as some monkey’s made it to the final table in seat two. He’s been playing bad all night, but better lucky than good. And then he goes on stone cold monkey tilt, calling an all in on a q high flop with A10, no pair no draw. And then he calls another all in with J9, and wins, knocking out a student. Posh kid, nice, but no class. He berates his way out of the tournement. So now we’re five handed. CPS has come unstuck with A7 vs AQ, and is now low, with 20k. He pushes under the gun, the monkey calls, and I call with A8h. Flop comes two hearts, we check. Turn no heart, we check. River brings the heart I need, he checks, I bet 20k, he gets mad - “Why bet there? Why not check it?” and then folds. I show my nuts, CPS shows 10 9 of spades, and whinges about how he was infront on the flop. Bye sir, nice game. And then there were 4.
By now I’m pretty tired; it’s close to two, so we’ve been playing 10 hours, I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and we’re still four handed. We break down evenly between the rebuy artists and the less crazed. I’m decent in chips, a solid second, with Monkey Tilt in third, and another fucking maniac, Ricky, in fourth. I’ve managed to avoid Ricky throughout, and to be fair to him, while he might be stone cold crazy, he’s got some skill, understands hand strength, and can put it all in with nothing. He also understands that he’s going to have to get lucky.
We play a couple of hands, Monkey Tilt continues to slow play preflop and get all his money in bad, doubling Ricky up AK vs Q5 after he limped in UTG and pushed on a Qxx flop. Next hand it folds to the Monkey in the small blind, which he pushes. I’m in the double b with K9off; now normally I’d be 50/50 to call here, it’s not the greatest hand, I’m not ahead of much, sometimes I'd go so far as saying I shouldn’t really call here, but this guys been pushing weak kings all night, so that helps the decisision. His range is so wide that I’m probably dominating him, or flipping. I discount him having a big hand - he’s not bright enough to push with it. It’s pretty much an instacall, but I take a minute. He tables his J10, I catch a king, but also a queen, then he turns a flush draw, but bricks the river, and leaves in fourth. A few hands later and we’re on break, and Monkey Tilit berates his luck at not being able to hit the river. Of course I agree with him.
The break finshes, and I’m in the small blind, 6k/3k. Ricky pushes the button, I wake up with aces, and his k10 doesn’t catch up. At this point it really is just about catching cards.
I’d like to pretend I’ve played brilliantly, and to be fair I played well at the begining, but most of my chips have come to me through getting a big hand against someone overplaying a weak hand, a coinflip or sucking out. If I win, it’s not just been through being the best, something that most tournement players at my level don’t like to admit.
Heads up and we’re pretty even. I’ve got 225k, my opponent’s got 221k. He suggests a chop, straight down the line, but I’m feeling good, maybe I’m on a tare, so don’t feel the need. The guys good though, he’s hit some hands, but also been playing aggresive on the final table - he’s been chip leader since the final 10, and kept his chips slowly increasing without much danger. He’s also a nice guy. And I immedietly regret not choping as I run my chips down to 120k in 10 hands. Bad bluffs, bad calls, no hands. I’m tired. So I start pushing. I win back to 150k, then get QQ, raise, get reraised and push. He calls with 88, I hold up, and now I’m fat again. So again he asks for a chop, and I give him one - £200 of the top, we play for £400. He agrees.
It’s over in six hands. I win two, he wins four, and then pushes my blind raise. Blinds of 8k/4k, I raise to 30k with A8d, a he thinks for thirty seconds before pushing. Pretty sure he’s got a small pocket pair - maybe up to 10s, possibly a monster, but only possibly. Even if he has kings I’m 30/70, and in my current frame of mind I’m pretty sure I’m not that much of a favourite to win it, so I call. He tables pocket nines. I flop an 8, turn a blank and river the 8. He looks sick, but smiles and shakes my hand. Nice to see a little class in the final hand.
I've won tournements before, nothing huge, nothing as big as this, but the feeling is always the same. I'm drained and a little disapointed. If you'd asked me if I wanted to stop before the last hand thenI'd have said yes in a shot, but now all I really wanna do is keep playing, which I can't. The beat didn't help, it never feels like a straight win when you suck out. I'll never understand those mooks who play the world series who scream when they hit a three outter, but I suspect that's because I'm usually the guy who's been sucked out upon. Well not tonight.
All told I win £1800. After tipping the dealers I’ve got £1620. They tell me they we’re both thinking “No Queen, No Ace” during my coin flip with Greg, so I’ve got to tip well. It’s four in the morning, I can wait 2 hours for a train, or pay £100 for a taxi home; sitting in the cash games I spunk £200 in an hour, then pay for the taxi home. My lovely fiance is pissed off about the hour, upset that I didn't call, but the £900 pounds I give her for a new sofa soon perks her up. I fall asleep and don't dream.
Starting bankroll; £1000
Cash Game; -£15
Tournement buy in; -£110
Tournement win; £1800
Cash Game; -£200
Total Bankroll £2265
What do you think boggly-eyed fella?
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