On Saturday I engineered the afternoon off from work to go and play in pub poker organisation MPL's third "Grand Final". This is a big day for the denizens of this particular midlands pub poker scene, and with £4k and a GUKPT Main Event seat up for grabs I felt obliged to play.
As you might imagine, the field is super soft, with most players never having played outside of a pub before. The setting was my least favourite casino of all time, Grovesnor Walsall, whose approach to their normal events is so laissez-faire that the last time I played I was unable to find a floorperson to complain to when in a 4-handed pot two of my opponents told each other they had "a huge hand that isn't a pair." In addition, my friend Tom made the final table and was part of a 7 way deal, and in large part due to the tournament staff's insistence on not getting involved, someone managed to pilfer £300 out of the prize pool.
There were around 160 players in the tournament, and I managed to draw Table 1 seat 3, which pleased me as I hate being seated on first-to-break tables, mainly for the effect it has on getting into a position to get a decent read on your opponents but also the pure inconvenience of just gathering all your stuff and high-tailing it across the room to your next table. The kid two to my right had won the previous 'quarter final' and played around 80% of hands. He had a real go big or go home approach and was certainly decent enough to do some real damage. The rest of the table was appaling, I would say that there was 1 solid player who wasn't going to do anything really bad or really good, but apart from that it was a festival of eee-orrs.
Some notable hands (10k starting stack) - in the first level (25-50) there's 1 limper and the aggro kid raises for the 4th time in 10 hands on the button to 225 He had previously shown all 3 hands he took pots down with - J4, J8 and 10 3, none of them amounting to a pair. I 3 bet with 3 4 off to 1425 and he called. The flop came K J J and I c-betted 3100 and he made it 7k. I folded and he showed me Ace 5 off. All in all I think both of us played horiffically here, I don't know why I felt it necessary to take a stand with 3 4, as well as leaving myself open to the big bluff. He put 60% of his stack on the line with Ace high, why don't I just wait until I have the goods and then stack him.
After this hand and a few ther excursions I was down to 5.5k. On the last hand of the first level the majority of the table limped, and the kid to my right made it 500, 10bbs, which is classically a tight range of AK, AQ, JJ or 1010. I looked down at 99 and after a few moments contemplation I shipped it, he called with AK and I held to give me my starting stack back.
After this I didn't do anything except play sneaky-good, my favourite gear. I got up to 16k at the break without showing anything down, doing lots of squeezing when anyone apart from the psycho was involved. The psycho went as high as 40k in the first level, but finished up at about 25k. In the first 2 hours before the break the tournament lost 15 players, 8 of which came from our table.
After the break the blinds escalated really quickly, but I still chipped up to 30k. Again there was nothing notable; just taking advantage of the plentiful weaklings at the table. I opened UTG+1 with AJ off, got called in the bb by psycho, J73, check check, he led 2500 at the 8 on the turn and I flatted, the river was a Q and he checked. Knowing that he is capable of the old hero call I bet big on the river, 5,200 which was close to potting it, he insta-called with 66.
I was up to 30k, which was second in chips to psycho when I busted. The blinds were 600-1200 so I had 25bbs, psycho opened the cut-off to 3600 and I flattted with KQcc. I can't 3-bet fold here, and I think open folding is awful in position against this guy, so I don't mind this street. The flop came Kh, 10h, 3h and he c-betted to 4500. I have 26k back. I've thought through this hand quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that I have to get it in here. My only physical tell on him was that he had flopped something, this c-bet wasn't air. The problem (or benefit) was that given this board texture he's c-betting for value a really wide range - any K, any A hearts, any lower pair with a decent size flush draw. And with most (if not all) of this range he is getting it in with. He's good enough to know that i can come over the top with hands that K9 is beating, and his whole philosophy means that he's not missing the chance to play a big pot with a big draw. I stoved it giving him a huge range of AA, KK, 1010, 33, all his two pairs and AKings, every QQ, JJ, and 99 and 88 with a heart, all the flopped flushes which is every suited Ace and most kings, down to J7 suited and 98-97suited. He also has all QJs, every Ahearts, and a few other pair/straight draw with flush draw combos, and finally all the naked Kings that we beat. I don't think he's folding almost any of his c-betting range apart from some non-heart QJs and Q9s. The stove makes me 52% fave, I would make it 55% with the addition of some FE. So all in all I think I took the correct line with this hand, and given the fast structure I didn't mind playing one of the biggest pots of the tournament so far with him. In the end I made it 17k (just so he might think he has some tiny FE of his own) and he snap-shoved. I put the rest in knowing I was in trouble and he showed AdKd that held.
All in all it was a decent day and I thought I played well - in a slower structure I think my edge would be substantial enough to have a massive edge, but even so I think the edge I have anyway ensures I should always try and play in these.
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