Virgin Festival Main Event

220 runners gathered at the Loose Cannon for the Main Event of the Virgin Festival. It was well run, efficient and friendly. With a 10k starting stack and 40 minute blinds, it also offered the players plenty of room for manoeuvre. My chip stack went up and down like a yo-yo, before I was eliminated half way through the day in a monster pot, where I was either unlucky, or misplayed the hand depending on your viewpoint.

My opening table includes Fluke and Briony, so at least I had some advance information on two opponents, although clearly this cuts both ways.

Oddly, in a long tournament like this, I see the first 5 flops of the day, before things calm down.

Hand1
2 limpers I raise to 300 in the SB with QQ and all pass.

Hand2
1 raiser and flat call and I call on the button with 44. I miss and fold to a bet.

Hand3
I see a flop with 9d10d in an unraised pot, but miss completely and pass to a bet.

Hand4
I see a flop with 7♥8♥ in an min-raised pot, but miss completely and pass to a bet.

Hand5
Loose player limps UTG for 50. Briony raises to 250. I find JJ in late position - I want to raise here, but decide to take a flop as Briony is a tight player, and the UTG limp looks a bit suspect. I call and UTG goes to limp raise, but then decides against it and calls.

Flop 6♣ 8♦ 7♥. Hmm.

UTG guy leads for 1500 into a 875 pot! What now?

Birtney informs him that his bet is “ridiculous” and passes. Clearly he has no idea how strong my hand is because I didn’t re-raise, but I am seriously worried this guy has an overpair to mine from his pre-flop mannerisms. I don’t want to re-raise, as that will commit half my stack, and I’ll be kind of committed to the hand then anyway. I take the easy option and pass. At the time I thought this was the right thing to do, but from observing his play later in the day, JJ was probably good there, as he had a tendency to bet small when he had the goods, and overbet when he had a vulnerable hand. Also, a key point here, is that my table image is very loose after seeing EVERY flop so far, so a re-raise here wouldn’t get the respect my hand merited.

Anyhow - things now calm down and I fold a fair number of hands.

Hand6
One raise to 150 and a call from the button. I am in the BB and come along with 7♥8♥.

Flop is 5♥ 7♣ 8♠

I check and opening raiser bets 300 which I call. (was close to check raising here but decided to see what developed on the turn).

Turn is Ace spades.

Raiser bets 600, which I check raise to 1600. He calls. Hmm - bit worried now that Ace has helped him in a big way.

River is Qc

My hand has deteriorated pretty fast. A8, A7, AQ all make sense from the betting. I should have check raised the flop when I had the chance, but I pretty much have to call his 1k river bet just in case he has AK/AJ type hands, but he shows A8 for the bigger two pair on the turn. Sigh - down to 6.5k. I played this one badly.

I then have a quiet level, and am down to about 5k when this hand happens.

Hand7
Briony raises to 600 in mid position and I call on the BB with with AJo

Flop brings a rainbow Ace with rags. I don’t really like this scenario as feel there is a decent chance Briony has AQ/AK here. Anyhow, I check and Briony bets 1200. I decide this tournament is going to the dogs, so I shove it in for another 3.2k, figuring she might has QQ or KK here as well and I don’t really have any room for manoeuvre. I’d rather ask the question now while I still have enough chips. Briony tanks for a while, so I’m starting to feel more optimistic. She eventually calls with A10 and I double up back to 10k.

Hand8
UTG makes it 800 to play and I find my signature hand 22 in the big blind. I call to see the expected flop of 2, 5, 4
I lead for 2k and the UTG player moves all in, and I pretty much snap his hands off. He has KK and doesn’t catch up and I move up to 20k. This highlights the value of playing small pairs in deep stack events - the implied odds are huge.

My table is now broken, and I am assigned to table 2 over in the far corner.

Hand9

Blinds are now 150-300. Very first hand on my new table I pick up TT in the big blind and raise the pot to blast away 3 limpers. They all fold.

I now go very quiet, as the table seems pretty active and I’m not picking up any hole cards.

The 200-400 level starts after the dinner break, and I start off raising 3 pots in a row with garbage, as the blinds are certainly worth stealing now, and a few people aren’t back in their seats, and so we are effectively short handed. Unfortunately I meet resistance each time and only win one of the pots with a continuation bet, but have to give up on the others.

I spend the rest of the level, card dead, and just stealing blinds when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately this is not enough to stop me slipping down to 16k stack at the 300-600. I’ll still in decent shape, above average, but unfortunately I now lose a 33k pot to bust out of the tournament:

Hand10
I am on the big blind and a guy who has been reasonably active raises on the button to 1800. I defend with Q♠J♠

Flop Qd2h4s

I check, and the guy bets 2.5k. I kind of want to shove on him, but my stack size is really awkward. A shove is a huge overbet, whilst a big check raise commits me to the pot anyway. I make a bad play and just call it.

Turn is a harmless looking 6 of clubs.

I decide I will go to war with the hand now as, the pot is pretty big. My stack just gives him enough fold equity I think if I check raise him all in, so I check. He obliges by betting 4k and I move in, for about 9k more and he calls with Q6 for the turned 2 pair. Sigh. No miracle on the river and I am out.

I really don’t like this hand at all, I’m not sure how else to play it though. I hate to have been all in on the turn with top pair, mediocre kicker, but against a button raise, folding pre-flop seems weak, as does folding on the turn. I guess I should have check raised the flop - if he had come over the top of me it would seem QJ was no good, and I could perhaps have played on with my 8k stack. I haven’t played well in a tournament since Vegas really, and I’m really disappointed with my game at the moment.

I played cash for hours and hours after the tournament. My wallet contents on Sunday morning told me I won about £200, but I got shamefully drunk on white wine, and have only intermittent recollections of the end of the night :(