4/1262 - Big Cash & A Rare Win

The evening started pretty badly. After dinner I made the whole group go over to the new Empire Casino to try out the much heralded poker room that will host the WSOP Europe in a couple of months.

Well, they don't really have a poker room. They only run satellites to the WSOPE and instead of a functioning poker room we found a karaoke bar. Yes, folks. This is what "Vegas comes to London" means to the brits. Fucking Karaoke. Well, fuck you Empire Casino because you fucking suck.

The group started bar/club hoping and I decided to head back to my hotel room and log on. I wanted to play a little and go to bed as I didn't really sleep last night. I logged in a started playing the 180SNGs on PS and all kind of tournaments on FTP. I didn't really have a plan. I wanted to try to satellite into the 5K FTP that satellites into the 1K main event tournament that runs tonight. I also wanted to play The Mookie although it was going to start pretty late for me here - 3am GMT (ugh).

Not a lot was going right for me. I was continuing my luck of getting rivered in bad spots and not being able to win the few races I decided to participate in. The it came to me. I need my lucky card protector. The one I used last time when I went deep in the tourney at The Vic. The Odyssey Chip. I got it out of my bag and things started going my way immediately.

I donked out of The Mookie very quickly as I was not really into it and played like an idiot. But the main reason was that I couldn't concentrate on the action becasue I was going deep in three other tourneys.

I had tried my luck at the 120FTP 45 seater turbos before. I final tabled about 2 or three so far and was going deep again. I have to say that the level of insanity and donkey moves is pretty high in these and you have to avoid a lot of mines along the way. Here' and example that got me the early chip lead:



It's not as bad as the first stages of the the WSOP freerolls where people are all-in with any two cards in the early stages, but it's not too far from it.

We got the final table and I was able to chip up and hit some eliminations. This one got me to heads-up with about a 4-to-1 chip advantage:



I had him on the ropes several times and he even folded to my min-bet after the flop when I slow played Aces. He barely had 2 blinds but somehow managed to suck out and get back to almost even. But in the end I increased my lead again and got lucky to take it down:




Win number one. Felt really nice. Like something was coming together. I decided to hit the Daily Double. I haven't played those in a very long time, but felt that with some of the new discipline I have managed to find I might be able to make something happen. 'A' paid 180 spots and 'B' paid 153. I won a big race early on with set over set that arrived on the turn:



A couple of hand later I raised presto in late position bad had to fold to all the action when it got back to me. It was the smart thing to do but I missed on making quads and knocking out two players in the process:



I had to make a pretty tough call when this clown check raised me on the flop while holding the donkey. I wasn't even sure if I won until the hand ended and the chips were virtually shoved my way:



I busted out of event Daily Double B when I was close to the money bubble. I played a bad hand and got all-in with 44 vs 77 after a coordinated flop. He made his straight and I was out about 20 spots out of the money. I was pretty upset about that but decided to not think about it and not let it affect me. I then took my most severe bad beat in a long time:



I asked the Poker Gods to be kind to me and the FTP RNG to stop the shenanigans. It was getting stupid. We had 3 hands in a row where people were dealt pocket kings. In the third hand two players got dealt KK. Seriously, what are the odds?

The Poker Gods answered my prayers and I satred delivering my own brand of beats:




I managed to take the chip lead and wield my big stack lucko-style for some time:



When we got down to two tables I got hit with some sick suckouts and got severly shortstacked. We were 10 handed and about to burst the final table bubble. I had no choice but to push with A6 and got an awesome result:



Next up was another FT bubble hand where I managed to double up when my opponent thought my turn bet was a bluff and called:



When we made the final table I was about 4th in chips. I knew there was a lot of work to do. This was one of the most aggressive games I have ever been a part of. Nobody was getting walks. Every blind was stolen or re-stolen. It was tough. I eventually doubled through the chip leader again and took the lead:



Players were dropping out one by one and the money was getting pretty sweet. I eventually pushed a flop that I thought gave me a few outs only to find the at least two of my outs were held by my opponent who ended up knocking me out with a straight flush:



I finished 4th out of 1262 players for a nice cash:



I am extremely proud of the way I played except for a couple of hands here and there. My bust out hand was not played well and I could have let it go but I didn't.

Tonight, I will probably head back to The Vic for another go at one of their tournaments. They are running a 50+5 freezeout. If I bust early I will come back and play the 5K FTP into the main event satellite.

Wish me luck!