I’d been looking forward to the second UKPC, the Sky Poker organised DTD event, for some time.
To be honest I could take or leave the six max hold ’em main event. I’m pretty sure the guys who play six max online for a living have an edge in that format, though there would be plenty of value too.
My main focus though was a lovely six max PLO tournament, £500 buy in with £50k guaranteed (before 10% juice was taken!), 50,000 chips and every level included. It’s really rare to get such a good PLO comp in the UK, especially at the £500 buy-in level. If I’m realistic enough to admit it, I probably don’t have a edge over a £1k six max hold ’em field, although I am confident that I do in the PLO variant.
My table wasn’t the easiest, with WSOP bracelet winners Devilfish and Lawrence Gosney proving tough opponents, while Billy Chattaway, who played really well in coming second in the Irish Open PLO and who kills it online in tournaments, was not giving any chips away.
For all of us though, the game changed when a risk-happy Norwegian moved to our table
You might say that every Norwegian has a gambling instinct – and you’d be right – but this guy was experiencing five-figure swings on roulette throughout the week. This was coupled with the fact that it was only the second time he’d played a PLO tournament. He was in every hand and didn’t seem too bothered about the prize money.
He’d already taken the Devilfish out, four betting all-in on the flop, creating a four times average stack pot with just a wrap. Dave obviously had a set, but Mr Norway was running well.
“Now I can tell my friends I badbeated the Devilfish,” he happily celebrated as the Fish made his way towards Trickett’s Room.
The mad Norwegian had so many chips he’d taken to just saying “pot” every time it was his turn
This was pretty perfect for me, sat one to his right, if I could find a hand to limp or call a raise and wait to get heads up.
When I did get the situation I wanted, I’m still not sure I should have got involved given my stack and the action, but it’s open to debate.
The blinds were 1k, 2k and I was in the big blind with 33k back. I’d not been in trouble throughout the whole tournament and despite having half average I liked my table and my chances of getting a stack going. Those are the reasons I feel maybe I should have just let my hand go as it was too risky.
The mad Norwegian potted, as he had at least the previous three hands, under the gun
Richard Kellet re-potted to 24k with about the same back, so he was never folding. Straight away I expect Kellet to have a decent hand, but he’s poker savvy enough to know the Norwegian is playing a wide range therefore as well as aces and kings and AKQJ type hands. He is smart enough to know three betting all-in with QQ and AKxx type hands are also likely to dominate his opponent.
Next to speak was Billy. He went into the tank, asked Richard his stack size, and processed the information – Richard’s range would be wide, so would the raiser’s, Richard couldn’t pass, but the raiser could, as Billy was sat with 120k or more.
Eventually Billy said pot and it was 81k to play. Billy should have aces here, but because of the tank, and the action and dynamic, he could have other hands, big run downs or kings.
The small blind passed and I looked down at 4567 with one suit.
The hand had taken so long that I’d had a good while to think about the ranges, as detailed above. If I had to place a bet, I’d say Kellet had a big pair, Billy aces, and I presumed the Norwegian was folding.
If he didn’t fold he had to have aces
Or so I thought. My hand of course plays like a dream against those hands, but I had to be sure no one had a slightly bigger run down – if someone flips 5678 I hate life. It was hard for any of them to have that so in went my chips. Norway re-potted to set the other two all in, and all of a sudden we had four of the five players at the table with the cards on their backs and hundreds of thousands of chips in the middle.
Kellett had QQJ9, Billy AKJT and the Norwegian had somehow found a call with KK83. I liked my hand in these matchups and thought I was winning on the K74 flop until I noticed the Norweigan already celebrating. The turn four gave me a house, but he produced a bigger one, and I missed mine out, coupled by a swift exit.
He really should have folded, and I’d have beaten the other two hands. Ifs and ands….
The £1k Main Event started well, I had a nice table and managed to crack pocket kings with suited connectors.
I did lose a pretty amazing hand though that had me scratching my head. UTG raised, I 3b 77, the small blind cold called, the original raiser thought for a while and also called. The flop came KK5 rainbow, I cbet and only the small blind check called.
The turn was the 8h bringing two hearts, he checked again, I checked behind. River was the Jh and now he leads half the pot. I felt like he probably had a pair similar to mine and may even have turned a house, but also felt he may be value betting a five, confident he was winning when I checked the turn.
I called.
“Flush,” he said.
“Flush?!” I asked
Ah, 9Thh, lovely hand to check call a KK5 rainbow flop!
Everything went pretty smooth in the first few levels though, but then the dreaded table break rocked me
I barely won a pot on the new table, bluffed off 20% of my stack in the first hand and gradually suffered a slow death. Six max is a game of momentum and having enjoyed the upward trend, once I moved tables, with all new players and no reads, it all quickly went wrong.
I headed straight to the bar and caught up with old friends Sam Trickett, Toby Lewis, JP Kelly, Craig McCorkell, Paul Foltyn and Lil Dave.
One good thing about busting the UKPC…I could be part of the biggest tournament ever held outside of Vegas, and planned to head to Coventry for the Goliath the next morning!
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