Another Win at Big Slick!!!

£20 buyin with £10 rebuys yday, which means a £20 rebuy for me. I came a little bit late as usual and had an interesting table, which got more interesting as it filled up. Big Slick runs a monthly leader board, which I’m currently 3rd in. It is basically a four horse race with the winner getting a free £330 seat into the big main event in October. All 4 of us just happened to be on the same table.

The Rebuy period was crazy as ever with a few blind all in! I get AQ and double up early on but eventually lose it all by calling away up chips with small suited connectors. Got involved in a 4 way all in with 67 on a flop of 7 5 4 up against 85, JJ and 55s, I had outs but they all missed but a J hit on the river giving a newbie a lot of chips!! The pot was about 14/15k, which is plenty for after the break. A few more rushing allin and I benefit with a 53 calling two allins, I hit and got a nice stack. After the break plus the double add on was on about 8k and in for £60

In the freeze out stage I picked up JJ 2nd hand in a raised and took the pot down, then picked up AhKh and made the same raise the next hand and the BB called, I needed a caller here, blinds at 200/400 are high at the stage but I need to win big pots to get a stack. Flop is very nice; it comes 2h 5h and 4c. I have the nut flush draw and a gutshot str8 with over cards, he checks and I bet out 1400, he calls, he has around 4/5k left, the turn is a blank and he checks and I move all in, I feel he has hit a small pair and is winning. I am no longer favourite if this is the case and I need to push him off the hand and if I get called I got outs, if I lose I still have 4/5k left. He folds, later I find out he was flushing too! Dam!! Needed that heart to fall but then again he may push on the river if he misses and I would have to fold A high. I then pick up 22 and decide not to raise 3 hands in a row, on my immediate left someone makes the standard raise and its folded round to me, he had around 4k and I have almost 15k, I decide to stop n go, if no Ace hits the flop I’ll stick it in. Flop is 9 high and I go all in, he calls instantly and I think he mite have JJs but he does not just AQ, a miss on the turn and river gives me some more chips.

Me and this lady were both chip leaders on the table and things were going well for me, I pick my another nice hand with AK and raise, she calls in the BB, she was playing quite tight but I think overvalued certain Aces and PP. Flop came AK4, sweet!!! She bets out though! She was clearly new to the game and I feel she has hit her Ace, but she has a big stack and do not want get too much involved so I make a raise to 2k after she bet out 500, she quickly called. Turn is a 8 and she goes allin for about 9k! HUH!!! She cannot have a set can she? That would be sooooo sick! I eventually call and she flips over AT and is drawing dead I get up to 32k in chips!!! That actually enough chips for final table but there were still three tables left! So was in good shape, I never get a big stack but I like to think I play it well, so here was on chance!

There was a situation where someone was allin and there were 4 of us checking him down, by the river I had a pair of As, someone else had a pairs of As with a Q kicker and someone had AT for two pair. I mentioned to AT it may have been worth betting out the river to get one of us to call, I would have folded but i’m sure AQ would have called if it was a small bet. The advise was not taken well and a debate over empty side pots kicked out, I just felt he lose maybe a 1k bet here but I will right about that another day.

Get moved tables as the table break and I come across 2 new guys, who I had never played with before, the rest I knew quite well. We got down to about 7 on the last two tables when the SB raises my BB I see A5 and was thinking of shoving, he did not have lot of chips and I felt he might be making a move but I decide to call and see a flop, as I never seen him before. Flop is a big miss for me and he shoves, I then say you were pushing on any flop right, he said nothing but that was the vibe I was getting therefore my A high if good pre flop is probably good 2/3 time here as he misses the flop. But then again I had not played with him and I had only lost a few chips to his raise. I fold and he shows 9 high! Doh!!!!

We then get 7 handed on each table, and everyone rocks up as they can smell the final table. I was chip leader but one other new guy was close to me, so I politely asked him how many chips he had, he said ‘no’, hmmm ok I thought he was joking and said seriously how many do you have?, he refused saying count them yourself, me being at the other end of the table, it was not possible, I thought he was being a complete idiot about it, its is fair question and he really annoyed, he then made the dealer count it out, which I felt is just rude as the dealer is a mate of mine and I do not want to waste time giving him extra work. I said to myself I’m raising his BB next!! I know its very immature and stupid but he did really annoy me, especially as he claims to have played an EPT (which turned out to be a £300 freeze and not the main event) and he had just gone to the WSOP and was very proud about it. That actually made it more annoying about his table behaviour, that he had played a lot and still was acting like a muppet. He then tries to be cheeky and I asked me for a chip count at, which I immediately reply 29 thousands with out any hesitation, of course I did not have that many chips but I was roughly right. But I did say to myself I’m going to bust him out.

He limps UTG 6 handed I find KKs and say here we go! I’ll get him here, I’m in the SB and I raise it up but he folds, what was he limping with 6 handed. Really do not like that play limp UTG then fold to a standard raise. My stack was ok on about 40k just trying to take the blinds down once a round and get to final. Won a nice pot with J8, in the SB I call and the BB checks, Flop is 3 7 5 and we both check, turn is a Q and I check, he bets and I call planning to take this away on the river. River is a T and I fire out, he thinks for while and thankfully folds.

Made it to final about 4th in chips, which I was happy with, normally I’m at final with 4 BB but had few more than that today.

Final table started off dangerously as we had a MP raise, an all in and another all in. Folded round to the MP raisers who fold AJ and KQ vs KK was the 1st hand on final, KKs hold up but we still have 9 players. We get down to 7 people and I have not really played a hand, took the blinds with J8 and K9 and lost a small pot with AK.

7 left and someone raises in EP I see KKs in the BB and move all in, he calls with JJs and my KKs hold!. Few more go out and we were 5 handed for a while.

A normally sensible good player then goes a bit crazy and string bets an all in with KQ, he is forced to call and I see a flop and turn hitting a pair with my A4. I bet and he folds, so I mite have knocked him out if he didn’t string bet, but not 100% sure I would have called. He then later goes all in out of turn on a bluff, which had to stand and someone calls and he hit runner runner str8!!! He is not normally like this, I think it was the maowi sweet!! I was now getting short and was in allin mode, moved in with QJ on the button and the BB mucks AT, phew!!

I then push in the SB with A6 and get called by Q2 (short stacked) and lose that flip, it was taking a while to lose a player, eventually there were a few BB SB battle and situations where the BB had to call the raises all in. Mr I will not count chips, makes some very bad tournament plays as he kept folded when some with 2xBB moved all in on his BB. He then says to me, you call him! I say I have zero invest and no odds. He clear had more talk in his mouth than his poker game. He called the 1st two times and lose flips and then refused to do it after that, he kept two people in the game because he was not willing to gamble with 2 live cards when getting more than generous odds, so he annoyed me even more by bad poker comments. He then choose this time to mention he was chip leader for 3 hours at this years WSOP! Hmmmmmm
We get 4 handed and SB vs BB, the SB moves in on my BB I look and see 99s and call he has 44s and I win!

I then offer a deal, not a chop but a change in prize pool, stacks were 20k, 70k, 110k and prize were roughly £200-£395-£740 blinds were also very high but the chip leader said no, which is fair enough, but we all know what the curse is!!! He will go out next! Next hand he doubles up the short stack and then loses a big flip and he is out! We actually did a deal just before he went out and took £40 off the top to give to 3rd. Do not reject the deal people!!!

Get heads up with the guy I so badly wanted to take out but I only had 40k and he had 150k in chips! But I love Heads up poker! I was more than willing to take him on! I was short so was in allin or fold mode, this happened for 5 hands and then he makes a huge mistake!!! He says lets play some poker and flops, too much all in all in!! He clearly underestimated me!! If we play flops (my kind of game) I got this, he was the big stack and should be putting pressure on me every hand but he failed to do so. I was very happy when he said to play flops because I was more than confident to out play him. The very next hand I double up!! I hit the str8 while he had two pair, but if me or him moved in or fold pre flop he loses next to nothing. I got up to 140k and he now had 50k. He moves in next hand, I say to myself calling with any Ace and high K, I see Qd8d and think this is worth a gamble, if I lose I still have enough chips to come back and I call! He shows 45 and my Q8 is good for 1st place and 2nd on the big slick leader board but more importantly another win!!!! (oh and £700!!)