Gala Casino British Poker Tour Nottingham

Day 1b

Main Event $1000 Freezeout, starting stack 10k, 60 minute clock, 226 runners.

Arrived 5 minutes late for start of tournament, after sat nav got completely confused by the Nottingham one way system. Fortunately they haven't started yet and I slip into my seat and prepare for battle. I'm drawn at table 3 seat 2 and, as it turns out, will be sat there for the rest of the day. I look around the table to see some very familiar faces, in seat 4 Trevor Reardon, a scouse pro who is renowned on the circuit for being aggresive. in Seat 5 Rocky Gupta from Teeside, Seat 6 has Steve Holden, the reigning champion, Seat 7, Houng Phen who i know likes to play every hand, seat 8 Latif Aziz from Teeside, Seat 10 P Kelly, a hardened pro player. It's going to be a tough table, but I am undaunted, I feel good, my game is going well and I have a good feeling about this tournament.

15 minutes late we get underway. 3rd hand in I limp with As4s utg. Reardon raises it up, and Rocky immediately re-raises, I pass and am gutted when the flop comes 8 4 4. Oh well it was the right pass in those circumstances pre-flop. Don't get too involved early on, as don't pick up any hands. Only noticeable pot in the first 2 hours play was where I limp in with As8s, one raiser 3xBB and 3 callers, so i call to see a flop. Flop comes Ac 3s 8h. I check it as the original raiser was TR and fully expect a continuation bet, but he checks, which is a little bit worrying, "possible set being checked on rainbow flop?" crosses my mind. Turn comes 7s, so now I have Top 2 pair and nut flush draw, I am not checking now and put in a 2/3 pot sized bet. All fold to BB who flat calls. River comes Qd, missed my flush but when BB checks I know my 2pr is good. I bet out pot sized bet and he calls. Shame on him for slow playing his AK from the BB, but thanks to him for paying me off. I get to the first break on 16k, average is 11500, so a good session. Unfortunately I then had a completely card dead period during the next session and when we broke for dinner, I had dropped down to 9k. I head off for something to eat and look forward to getting back, when I know I will need to pick up a hand or two to get back in the race.

Next session starts quietly again, I manage to get my stack back up to 12k with a mixture of good play and stolen blinds, which are now at 300/600 with a 50 ante. Then I get 9s 9h utg+1. I limp in, as does the player in seat 4, Phen limps in late position and BB checks. Flop comes As 9c 7s, "here we go" I think, BB checks and i bet out 2.5k, seat 4 re-raises me to 7.5k, Phen and BB both fold. Thinking i'm probably up against an A or a flush draw I push all in á la Phil Helmuth, pushing my stack over the line in a hurried can't get em in quick enough motion, he insta calls with his set of 7's. Wow set over set, has to be the best I can see him turn over and with him missing his one outer on the turn and the river I move up over 25k.

A little while later Rocky limps from early position, and I put him on a big hand, Phen next to act raises it up, which he has been doing from this position a lot. I look down at AQ, but feel I am well behind to Rocky here, which is proven correct when Rocky re-raises all in. Phen goes into think tank for some time and eventually calls. Rocky shows his AK and Phen amazingly shows only KdJd. The flop comes with 2 diamonds and you somehow know Rocky's fate is sealed, but the River J was sick, sick, sick. Unlucky Rocky. The very next hand I know Rocky will push from BB, there is a limper initially and I look down at QQ, I raise and Rocky pushes his small stack over the line blind. The other guy passes and my QQ holds up against Rocky's K8.

Steve Holden who has been bumping along the bottom since very early on, soon follows suit and departs. Great player Steve, shame he wasn't able to defend his title into the 2nd day.

Next few hours pass uneventfully for me, although we seem to be going through players at our table at a great rate of knots.

With 1 hours play left, I have ground my stack up to 47k, and with day 1a finishing with 48k as average stack I know that so long as I avoid a car crash, I should make it through in a decent position. At this point the day's chip leader Daniel Byrom gets moved into the seat on my left. I think great, there's my chances of blind stealing reduced, but how wrong I was.

The first round after Daniel sits down it folds to me on button, I look down at AK and put in a raise, both blinds pass and I show AK. Next round I get AQ on button, put in a raise and they pass, I show again. I really don't want Daniel getting the idea I'm stealing because he is the only one on the table that can do me any real damage. Next round same scenario, this time I show AJ suited. 4th round, it folds to me on button again, this time I look down and see AA (!), with blinds at 600/1200 with a 100 running ante I raise it up to 4k, Daniel in the SB think up for a few secs and re-raises me to 10k, BB passes and I re-re-raise a further 15k. Daniel pushes all in and I instantly call. He has JJ, and my bullets hold up. This puts me up to around 95k and although I lose a small pot before the end of the days play I end up on a healthy 79500. Taking into account the stacks from day 1, I am going into day 2 with nearly double average and the 6th largest stack, so well positioned. I head off to the bar to Watch the Joe Calghazi vs Bernard Hopkins Fight. Day 2 to follow......

See an interview with me here ------>>>> http://www.thenutz.tv/videodetail.php?video_id=66555