WSOP league - Week 1

Our WSOP league for 2011 kicked off on Thursday, with 12 runners making it, out of a 28 strong player pool. Given the summer fixtures are likely to be hit by players away on holiday I think this was decent and should grow over time.

The league pays-out on the night, but also keeps aside 33% of the buy-in towards a Vegas fund which we will play for at the end, for which your final chip stack will be determined by your league points.

Due to the small number of runners, we were left with two tables of 6, which meant for some fun aggressive short handed play. Special mention to Dev and the Baron who obtained full double ups during this period but still managed to miss out on the final table (!) I placed 5th, which was the money bubble, but at least I picked up 30 points for the final which equates to 450 chips in the Grand Final. Ioannis was the overall winner to get his campaign off to good start.

A couple of hands of note:

Hand 1
Aggressive player limps for 100 in the cutoff, so I call in on the button with 9♦10♦. Tight player in SB makes it 400 and aggressive player calls so I take a flop. Flop is T, 4, 3
Not too convinced with my top pair against tight player but it is checked around. Turn is a pleasing 9.
SB bets 500, cutoff calls and I make is 2k from the button and take the pot down.

Hand2
Can’t remember position in this hand, but I get to see a cheapish flop with 67. Flop is Q48 I think. Checked around. Turn arrives 5 to give me the nuts, so I lead for 800 or so and Dev shoves with AQ and I win a big pot.

Hand3
5 of us left - I raise UTG with J♥10♥ to 1500 with blinds at 300/600. Ioannis calls on the SB.
Flop is Tc 5h 3c
I bet 3k and Ioannis calls.

Turn is Ah giving me a flush draw as well as the pair, so I go ahead and shove with my last 7k and Ioannis calls with A♣4♣ and I don’t get a heart on the river. Ioannis had flush draw plus gutshot on the flop, so a big flop for him.

After departing the tournament, I won £150 in the cash game before we called it a night. Next fixture is in a few weeks.