Cat spotted in Luton

The poker4charity event in Luton was last weekend and what an enjoyable weekend it was. Plenty of fun, booze and frolics but most importantly large long sessions of poker too!

I went down a day early along with some of the MMM Mob, including JackofClubs(Pete), Steve and his friend, Royal Flush(James) and M3Boy(Paul). We arrived early as we wanted to play in the 100£ Freezeout at the Grosvenor casino on the Friday night. This was the biggest event I had played in live and had the best structure of any tournament I've been in so far. 5K starting chips and a 30 min clock meant there would be some decent play. There were some good Pros playing including the number 1 ranked player in Europe WIllie Tann, and Keith Hawkins, aka the Camel.

We got in registered, and were allocated out seats. AMazingly I had been drawn at the same table as Royal Flush for the third tournament running. Some easy chips i thought to myself as we joked about taking each out. :). The tournament began and early doors I look down and find 74 in the hole in middle ;osition. I tried not to give away a tell, I just hoped that when I leapt to my feet punching the air, shouting hallelujah, people would put this down to early tournamnet nerves. Several people had limped in EP and I decide to flat call and try and make a nice flop with them. The guy to my left calls and its round to Royal FLush in the Big Blind. He raises it to 800. This is a big enough raise to signify he has some sort of hand i feel so i pass along with the early limpers. The man on my left immediately bangs in a 2K raise!

Wow whats going on? I hope Flushie wasn't on the steal here. Flushie has a think about it and reraises allin! OMG! This is a 5K structure blinds still very low and both of them are going for it.
The man calls and they flip em. I see the look of horror on Flushie's face as he flips KK only to see this guy has the rockets, AA.

I prepare to mock Flushie till the flop comes from heaven for him Kxx. AA doesn't improve and FLushie elminates this guy ans is up to 10K in chips. For me I now experience a long run of barren cards. The only half decent hand i see , 99 i have to abandon due to some heavy betting from JJ and AQ and a couple of hours in to the event i am down to 3K in chips. Suddenly the blinds are up to 300/600 and i'm in bother. I have to move soon and UTG I looks down and find 77. Now i know the rest of the table think Im quite tight so i prepare to use this to my advantage as I move allin. I get ready for them all to fall over and fold like dominoes.

"CALL" says the guy UTG+1 as he throws half his stack into the middle.
"CALL" says the guy in Middle Position.
A guy in late posiition thinks about calling too but ultimately passes what he later says is AQ.

(FFS thinks the guy UTG who is in a world of trouble with his 77 here)

I now dream of a 7 flopping.

The Flop comes 7 2 3.

WAHOOOOOOO i flopped the nuts. How nice. They check the flop. Turn is a Q. They check again. River is a 3, giving m a full house. The middle position bets out and EP calls.

Cards on their back. EP flips 88 (PHEW) and MP flips 22 for a flopped set and full house onn river. HE looks pretty happy till i casually flip em and announce 7s full and rake in the main pot. WOHOOOO up to 10K in chips. From here on in again the well is dry for me and apart from one hand of note things were pretty quiet now. Here is the hand.

I get JJ UTG and decide to again make a play for the blinds which are 400/800 by now. I riase to 2.8K, a good 2K raise signifying strength and once again I expect my tight image to work wonders for me again. The CL calls me (DAMN!) and then the guy next to him announces ALLIN and pushes his 10K stack into the middle(WTF).

FFS arent these people paying attnetion! Next time i will arrive wearing a sign round my neck syaing Kinnish. I think about what's going on. The Chip leader has plenty of chips and i dont need to neceesarily put him on a hand, although i have seen him slo play aces once. For some reason I am thinking KQ AQ. The other guy i have only seen pushing premium hands like AA KK QQ allin, and ive seen him limp AQ. This is not much info to go on but I feel that based on the fact that they know theyve gotta have a decent hand to play back at me due to my relative tightness, I have a strong feeling he is a big pair. After some thought i pass JJ leaving myself 7K back.

Something wierd happens now. The Chip Leader thinks about whether to call or not and the guy who is allin announces he is off to the toilet mid hand! He disappears to relieve himself.

Cue kerfuffel at the table.

"What's going on? He can't do that?"
"His cards are dead m8, you win"
"Yeah but didn't the dealer say it was ok?"

(I try and throw my voice)
"Isn't the hand dead and all chips should get returned?"

My inspired suggestion falls by the wayside and the TD is called over to rule in the guys absence. After hearing how the situation transpired at first she announces the cards are dead and the pot goes to the chip leader.

Man returns from his toilet travels and is understandably miffed to find his stack sitting on the CLs pile. He argues with Tourney Director that the dealer had ok'd his trip to the WC. There is some debate and voices are raised. The other tables all rubber neck to get a good look at the argument.

Ultimately the dealer makes the bizarre ruling that the man who moved allin can have back the quantity of chips he raised 7.2K or so and the CL gets the remaining 9.2K pot. This seemed to me to be a most stupid and illogical ruling btu it stood anyway.

The tournament continued and again I was a little coldecked seeing very little i could make a play with. After stealing for four rounds or so jsut to keep msyelf afloat i finally get knocked out moving in UTG(AGAIN) with K5, called in the Bb by J5 who hits a J and knocks me out in 15th. I was fairly pleased with how i played given my barren run of cards and I outlasted a number of Pros and all the other guys i came with (bar steve's friend who made the final table.)

We now proceed to drink large quantities of beer, and after a late night poker session in the hotel, during which time we managed to uspet the hotel staff and some of the guests with our loud antics, we all retired to get a good night's sleep.........

....YEAH RIGHT! Me and Flushie stayed up all night playign Heads up ROE poker and got no kip before the charity event. I'm such an addict.....

I'll do a run down of the charity event in my next pos as my fingers are tired now.