Amusing Cash Hand

So…Volcano raises to £3 in a 50p/£1 cash game as he has been doing most of the night. He has about £250 behind after running nicely early on in the game. Folds round to Mad Viv who calls in the blinds.

Flop 9, 9, Q.

Viv checks, Volcano bets £10 (an overbet). Mad Viv goes all in for £80 (a HUGE overbet).

As Volcano ponders Viv shows quickly displays over the 9 “Jamie Gold 2006 stylee”. Volcano says “I saw that”…and…calls… with Q10? Viv takes the pot and Volcano suffers the ridicule of the table. We were lucky not to see an eruption, but the fire has been doused by a promising start to the year, and in justification of the call Volcano confided that he was “a bit pissed”. Without doubt an early nominee in the “worst call of the year” category, and given that the caller could see the opponent’s key hole card, will be almost impossible to beat.

Rewinding back to the tournament, and it’s another “nearly” event for me. 5th place this time which earns zero points and zero cash, from a field of 20. I feel a bit hard done by to finish 5th and 6th in the opening 2 weeks, and yet have the same points as someone who has busted first on both occasions. I guess the rules are the rules, and they can’t change them now the event is underway.

Cathy was playing on my opening table - haven’t seen her for months. She lives in Blackpool now, and was encouraging me to come up to sample the bustling Blackpool poker scene. I’m slightly reluctant given last time I was in Blackpool 9 years ago I was chased by

a) The police
b) A police dog; and then even more ludicrously
c) A police helicopter (those flashlights they wizz around are pretty blinding)

In turns out the nice chap who stole someone’s Beemer had been thoughtless enough to wear the same T-Shirt as me. I no longer shop in “Brand Center” in the Uxbridge retail park.

Anyhow, I digress…Cathy was knocked out early, when she ran into the hardest situation in the game - set over set on an unthreatening board. The Volcano’s well disguised set of Aces cleaned up.

The first hand of interest for me came up in the 2nd level, after I had worked my way up to 6,000 chips from a start of 4,500. I hold 22 and limp in mid position, Mark raises to 300 in the big blind and I call:

Flop K, 2, 5 (2 hearts)

I bet 600 hoping for a reraise but get a flat call.

Turn bring 10 hearts.

I check fearing the flush (this is a mistake) and Mark takes control betting 1,200. I call, hoping to pair the board and clean him out if he does have the flush.

River is a brick. Mark bets 2,800 which would leave me with just over 1,000 chips. He has bet this just like a flush, so I fold and he shows AK (which is a virtual bluff on this board) and I’m on tilt. If I had less than 4,000 behind I would have called, but I reasoned I could still win from 4k in chips and he has a flush here, like, 70% of the time. Set over set was another possibility, so I’m not too fussed with this.

The levels passed by and people were eliminated. I had to push all in a few times with trash to keep my head above water. Thankfully no-one called. I came over the top of Rhys with A10 and he had to fold his Arag, and that pushed me up to mid stack position. By the time I had limped into a few multiway pots and pushed with middle or top pair a few times, I arrived at the final table with about 11k in chips, sitting in about 5th place.

The final table was uneventful for me. I virtually doubled up and eliminated Fluke when I hit my nut flush, after we were all in on the flop. (he was ahead with QQ in his hand but I had the odds to call due to the sequence of betting, since I have the flush draw + overcard). After that I raised a few times and stole the blinds before my elimination hand.

I am in the big blind and Sir Mike raises to 2000. I look down at AK and re-raise to 6,400 with 4,000 behind representing a beast of a hand. Mike pushes, and I have to call given he could have a pair QQ or lower or even AQ. I couldn’t have survived long with 4k in chips this time. In the event he has 44, I miss and am eliminated. I think my reputation with Mike cost me here - he knew I could be making this move with a pretty wide range. I feel if Rhys or Geoff had made the same move, Mike might have folded his pocket fours pretty quickly. Ah well - I’ll get paid off when I have the nuts I guess…

Congratulations to Rhys for his win and joining Volcano at the top of the leaderboard on 20 points. I am milling around in lower mid table with my 8 appearance points - could really do with a score this Thursday.