Close, But No Cigar

Well folks, it's been a quiet time recently for me; with very little to report. Although I check the blog two to three times daily, I have little relevant information of my own to report, so I have refrained from posting anything for a while.

I was recently back in Dundee for a long weekend for a mates stag do, and with the Sunday afternoon proving to be a "free period" so to speak, myself and a mate headed down to Gala to take part in their hold'em tournament. It was a £25 buy in, with the option of a rebuy and a top up, meaning to play it properly, £75 was really the order of the day. When I realised it was going to cost the thick end of a ton, I reluctantly decided against playing, but my pal, Rhuridgh offered me the initial buy in, so essentially I played the tournament as a £25 freezeout, trying to dodge the many bullets from the motley bunch of Sunday afternoon regulars.

The event attracted a low turnout of only 23 players, whereas the previous week had nearer 50 in attendance. No problem, however. The first two levels were 45 minutes each, and were at fairly low stakes, with a starting stack of 5000. My objectives were to play ultra tight, and this was causing a fair bit of frustration for the tawdry clique of regulars. In the second level, for example, I picked up QQ under the gun and made a raise of 4* BB, and EVERY player at the table called. Suffice to say, the hand looked pretty weak on a raggy flop, and I chucked it away, with the lesson learnt that aggression is the only semi-respected move at this post-Sunday lunch fishfest !

No matter, the Chelsea-Man Utd game was being screened, so I sat disinterested until I picked up bullets after the break, where it was getting towards the time where a move had to be made with more or less any semi strong hands. With some huge stacks of 30,000+ on the table, I shoved the whole stack in preflop from the cut off. The blinds folded, as did the other pair of initial limpers. Mind you, probably better than getting 4 calls !

With all of the rebuys out of the way before the break, the fallers came thick and fast. I eventually found myself at the final table (of 9) with little under the average stack. After a few hands I found AK with which I called the short stacks all in with. He turned over a pair of crabs, with not one but two bullets landing on a colourful board, I removed the somewhat sour faced individual from the tournament.

With 8 players left, I was once again falling foul of the "casino clique" and had to lay down a variety of hands. We were down to seven when I finally met my maker, with my 99 finding TT. Ironically, both hands also made a set, but there was to be no fairytale ending, and I left the poker table empty handed, with the top 5 paying. Despite this, however, due to being staked, I was even from a personal point of view. Although I was obviously disappointed not to cash, I think had I bubbled I would have been far more inconsolable, and after playing off just one buy in; in what was my first live poker event since DUSoP in March, I was more than happy with my showing.

I then went henceforth to the roullette table, and turned £20 into £78, so all in all, not a bad sort of a day ! Then onto the Gullistan and the Fishermans for fine fayre !