£330 Freeze out at Big Slick!!!!

Friday

I came bk from uni on a friday night, dropped a mate off in Croydon and went straight to Big Slick to buyin into the £330 freeze out. I then sat down and played some cash. I sat with £160 on the £50 game and got a bit bored, got it up to £220 but saw the bigger game was getting some more players and people who are probably playing the £330 comp the next day. i felt i could create a bit of an image and at the same time learn how some of the players play. Will not go into to much detail about the game but i took a nice pot down on a bluff with Jack high, and took a nicer pot with two pair. I ended up about £185 up just playing solid poker and alot in position, played my button quite hard, although i did not play many hands, hopefully creating a tight image.

Saturday

I get to big slick at around 7 when the comp was meant to start but it was running a bit late. I saw some old new faces and it was good to catch up been atleast 9 weeks since the last time i played there and there was a great atmosphere at the club. I then found out that Nick the owner actually added the £5,000 to the prize pool and not a sponser like Betfair or King Soloman or their new sponser party poker. There were 91 runners and I drew seat 7 at table flamingo in the corner of the room, not the best seat in the house but i could see my table and also being the corner table it was unlikely to break til the very end, which meant i could spent good time reading the table as the table will not be one of the first to break, therefore creating an image was definately on my agenda. The table seemed ok, nothing too impressive. although looking around the room there were some big and better players than the usual big slick crowd, to mention a few Action Jack and his 'crew' were there as well as Praz and two of his boys. Also a few more had travel to croydon for the comp, so it was by no means the usual Big slick player, who are fairly weak overall for a £330 freeze out (no offensive to the good players at the club) Looking at the structure i was not too impressed. There was no 75-150 level and after the 400-800 it went to 600-1200 and after 1,000-2,000 it went to 1,500-3,000 which is when i believed the crapshoot would happen!

I start off very very solid, folding a few hands here and there, and just trying to play in position. i limped in with small pocker pairs, like 33 and 22 but never connected. I create a tight image and started raising limpers and c/bettin the flop, which got me to 15k after the 1st three levels. I still had not picked up a hand. The blinds were 40 minutes each. The best hand i picked up was Q8 which i raised two limpers and c/bet the flop. Also one a nice pot with 79. Some what a family pot and i called on the button, flop came 9 high and it check to me i bet. SB tight player called. turn paired the board and also brought the third diamond. He checked and bet again, he thought for a while and folded. The TD just stated before the tournament started that moodies do not go. The 2nd hand in a player on my table on a board of AKxAx three spades bets and someone thinks saying, 'oh have you hit the flush' he then raises!!! hmmmmmmmm Thats not allowed! No one seemed to notice, the guy folded and mr 'oh no i'm worried about the flush' has AK (of course) for the house! I then asked the dealer is that allowed?

Feeling good at the break and going into the 4th level. I still had not shown a hand or being given a hand better than 66s. I then kept raising on the cut off and folding pretty much anything else. I then raise on 1+ the Cut off with 98. The BB thinks and calls. Flop is K Q J, he checks and i bet out. he calls. Turn is a 2 and he checks and i fire out another shell, he calls, im sure he is on a draw, something like JT or T8, definately holding a T, maybe QT. The river is a nice 3. He checks and the pot is quite big now, i cannot afford to check with 9 high as im sure his T high would take it. Also i wanted to keep my hole cards a secret to the players on the table and create an image where you are getting no free cards. I then fired out the fourth shell, and then he called with KT!!!!!! Yikes! I then said nice call and showed my 9 high. The table looked quite stunned as he scooped at 20k pot. The did not help my attended image but at least they knew i was aggressive! However i did not have that many chips now, down to about 4k and with blinds 200-400 it was ALLIN time!

I then shove allin about 5 times picking up the blinds, which was nice. Especially as the best hand i had was AJ. The others were Ax in position. I then got up to 6k. I picked up AK!! Whooohooo my first big hand!!! BUT!!! some guy limps UTG and then some one makes it 1200 to go!! hmmm ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLIN!!!!!!!!!! I was quite sure this was an automatic call for the raises but he thinks for a while and folds his TTs face up! hmmm, im happy with the pot but would mind a double up, still over 60 players and needed some chips, but any uncontested pot pre flop is not toooo bad!

Then the poker gods sent down the lunatic!! to our table, he was on 70k!!! Average stack on final would be 91k!!! he was not far away but when every i see someone with that many chips early on, you know he must be very aggressive and very lucky (in most cases) I picked upAJ and raised his BB, he called as well as the button. Flop is J high and he checks, i check and the button checks oppps! The turn is a low card and the BB checks i bet, the button folds and the BB puts my all in, i call. He has Q8! A gutshot and an over card! A blank on the river and i double up. I slow down alot now, i was not picking my any hands and you do not need to bluff the unbluffable!!! This guy later cracks two sets with str8 and flushes. I was showing his 5 high bluffs while i waited and waited. He got to 90k!!! He then raised my BB, there was a flat call in the middle, this was at 300/600, i have AK in my BB and think for a while and shove! i know i am getting called! Was just thinkin if i might want to see a flop but i only had 14k and thought i need to build up and take a risk. He thinks for a while and says im calling because this hand has one me three big pots today!! I thought okkkkkkkkayyy! The caller folds and he shows K3!!! I cannot be in better shape than that, i take the pot down!!!!

I then win a good pot with QJ, i raise and get a caller and the blinds fold, flop comes 8 high and i bet the flop, the guy sweats me out for a while and folds AK! I obvious say i had a pocket pair! I just picked up pots like that to be honest, not much really happened, i still had no big pairs and still not flopped more than one pair or an over pair! But i was doing well and on 35k with average stack around 22k.

Now here is a point i would like to mention that i was not too happy about. In a tournament you expect to pay a reg fee of about 10% or the club can take 10% out the prize pool. But when the top prize of £11.6k was announced the prize pool did not seem to add up. Big Slick had taken £30 off every player and also took a cut from the prize pool!!! I was not happy about this!!! As each player ends up paying about £50 each!!! Just to play in the competetion, i would not mind so much if this information was given up front but no such luck, there was not any free food or anything else. The £5k added was soon recoupped by the reg fee and the rake from the tournament! I am not happy about this but what can you do! I really like big slick, it is a great place and the people behind it are great people! But this was certainly a point i did not agree with especially as the structure was not so great, if you paying more than 10% you should atleast get an awesome tournament given to you!!

Got to about 3 tables left with avergae stack but the 1,500-3,000 level kicked in. This was about 6 hours and 40 minutes in and i still had not picked up AAs, KKs, QQs, JJs or AQ! I picked up TTs but i actually folded them pre, as it was raised and re raised. Normallly i would not complain as you do not need cards to win! But only when the tournament has a good structure. I noticed this when i raised with AT and got one caller on the button, the flop was Q high and i bet out a standard amount. The guy then asked how much do i have left. I counted and i only had 21k pot after betting 10k, there was clearly no room to play! It was a 2 bet game and you were committed! It was an allin game which i am pretty confident in however there is a lot of money to play for and i could not buy a hand!

Then got down to two table with about 16 left i was still on average trying to take the blinds once a round but that plan was not working and was every two rounds which caused me to lose a few chips at the 2,000/4,000 level. Someone then moved in for about 20k+ with A7 and i found 77s in the BB! A huge! hand for me!!! i call and the 1st card is a Ace! ouch!! I then go to about 40k with blinds at 2/4k my ten BBs meant allllllllllllin time!! Not that is wasnt all in time before!!! The strucute was soooooo annoying!!! I heard that at the Walsall GUPKT they negoiated some blind structure change but it was 5am and the club closes at 6am and they wanted to get down to the final table for play to continue tommorow with everyone comming back to have a pay day. The thing i do not understand is why not make it a proper two day event, why play to final table and finish play at 6am where people are tired. As the next day is a sunday it is more than reasonable to start at 2pm and then finish at 11pm or later and allowed a lot of room to play!! But this was not the case.

UTG moves in and i have AJ in the BB with 14 players left!! i think for ages! The blinds were still 2k-4k and going up very soon. I thought for ages! But i hate calling off my stack than less than AQ especially so close to the end! But AJ was such a big hand for me, i still did not get a bigger pair than TTs all night in 8 hours of play and felt i could be winning! But i let it go! He claims he had KQ! but who knows!! I then really get short, down to about 6BB. 14 left and EP limps in for 4k, i find 88s shove!! I am not afriad of the EP limp, i know he has A rag and pretty sure he will not call, also harder for the blinds to call knowing EP has limped! the guy behind me then moves in!!! DAMM!! At best i must be racing! The EP limper folds his A2, and i show my 88s as the re raisers shows his JJs!! I go busto in 14th!!!!!!

I was happy the way i played! i didnt get any hands and played position well. If the structure was better the hands definately would not have mattered, but oh well! another tournament is over!!! Top 9 got paid and im sure there would have been a small bubble prize for 10th!!

Thats all from me and will be for awhile, ive cashed out my online accounts and looking to get some work done at uni, just going to play at poker soc, DSOP and warwick HSP!!! Good luck all!!!