On saturday i made the hour long train journey to Bristol, to play the Coral poker masters Bristol Leg. Previoua events had around 80 runners so i figured it might be good value. I arrived at my hotel around 1:45pm before heading to the casino to buy in. Kick off was to be 3pm
To my surpise when i got there it had sold out! 140 runners had already registered before me(160 after all the alternates), but fortunately i was 2nd on the alternates list so it wasn't really too much of a problem. The tournament had a decent structure 1hr clock and 10k starting chips.
45 minutes into the tournament and i get the call and take my seat. I dont think i played a hand for 1/2 orbits partly due to getting dealt trash and finding out how people are playing. As it turns out i have a young internet pro to my immediate left, which isnt ideal as hes playing 30% pots and very aggressively so i nit it up a little. I played a few pots here and there taking them down with c/bets and little resistance in the main.
1st key hand i raise QQ in MP at 50/100. i get two callers from the blinds. flop is Q 5 3 but all spades so i fire out a largish c/bet, and get one caller. Unfortunately the turn brings the 4th spade and i check behind hoping for the board to pair which it doesn't and im forced to fold a 3/4pot river bet. Id expect most players to c/r sets on that board so i think he has As alot. Later it turns out hes quite a bad player but with the info available to me at the time i think its an OK fold. THe next hand of note i flop a set 4 way with 6's on a J K 6 board two hearts but get no action as orginal raiser bet/folds and shows QQ.
About 5/6 levels in and i find myself shortish with 15bb's due to facing resistance with c/bets and card dead, so i was looking for good re-shipping spots and opening quite tight. Luckily i looked down at AA in the SB after a tightish btn opens. I ship it in and then the BB (who has 12bb's, tilting after bluffing off 75bb's or so) overcalls. Btn mucks and BB shows A4o, which i think is really bad and i hold.
So with a half decent stack of around 25-30bb's 7-8 levels in and 80 players left or so i get moved to a new tbl. The tbl is very weak tight, so i find myself opening a ton of pots since antes have properly kicked in and facce little resistance. Things do however start to go downhill, i had been opening liberally and opened JKss UTG. i get 3bet by UTG+2 so i fold and he shows AK. Later in the same orbit i open J2dd in the CO vs a very tight bb who decides to c/r a flop which i whiff and leaves me with the dreaded 15bigs and around 45 players left.
My exit hand was pretty standard. A competent northern european opened the CO and i re-shipped 88 with 14bb's from the btn. He calls and shows 99 and the board doesnt improve my hand. I went out in 45th around 25 from the money. I played pretty well and if things went well when i tried to change gears when the antes kicked in i could of made a deep run with a stroke of luck. £25k up top, but wasn't to be this time. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will be playing GUKPT Blackpool next month to get my live poker fix!
Online has been pretty rough recently. I took a shot at 10/20 earlier this week which didnt go well and im on a $6k downswing or so. So im up just under $10k+RB this month in 42k hands. On a positive note im crushing 2/4 HU, but just need to figure out the code to break the riggedness of 3/6.
GL at the tables all
JP
