CPC Main Event

Right, in my last post I said I would make a post on the Main Event so here's a brief summary. Well I only lasted about 3 hours so it has to be brief really. We had 6000 starting chips (smaller than I anticipated) and a 1 hour clock. Here's how it panned out with a few key hands:

Level 2 - Blinds 50/100. Utg makes it 300, 2nd to act makes it 800, I'm next to act and look down at JJ. Maybe in later positions I would get involved here as both these players seemed to be giving quite a lot of action, but in this situation I decide to muck. Flop comes down J22, great stuff, and theres a bet and raise! Turn is a blank which they both check. River is 10 and also brings a flush. First to act moves all in and after a 5 minute dwell the other passes, showing his QQ. Gutted I couldn't have been let in this one a bit cheaper. A great chance to amass some chips gone begging.

Level 2 - On my BB its folded round to SB who min raises to 200, I call with J10 and we see a flop of 289, he bets out 200, I make it 600 and he calls. Turn Ace which he checks, I'm thinking surely the turn can't have helped him so fire out a 1k bet which he calls, now I'm in trouble. River 9, now he checks so I don't think (hope) he has it and bet 1.2k into the 3.6k pot hoping to look like a value bet. The guy started saying how this was "so sick" and that he couldn't believe the river. He was talking himself into folding, but took quite a while to do so. Finally he did and showed A2 (2pr on turn) saying he couldn't beat either my ace or 9 because he now didn't have any kicker. Of course I told him I had the 9 and said unlucky. I think he should have check raised me on the turn really, but thankfully he chose not to.

Level 3 - Blinds 100/200 - Sitting with 7.5k, now seems to be a good time to bluff away most my stack. I make it 700 from UTG with QK, just the SB calls. Flop comes down 227. He checks I bet 1100. He now makes it 2200, and has around 4k left behind. I move in deciding he's either making a move on me or has the 7, and he should fold just about anything believing my utg raise for something big. I didn't think he would play 77 so fast, so really couldn't see him calling my all-in, and if he does I could still have outs. It was a fool-proof plan! Money in the bag. Or not. He calls instanly and I'm in trouble when he flips A2. I guess he called my pf raise because they were suited and he had good position on me from the SB?

Level 3 - 600 chips - Very next hand my BB and its folded round to SB who asks me how many chips I have but then decides to just make up. I have 7T and decide to see a flop as I think he'll call my all in. Flop comes 677 and he moves in. Of course I call and he flips 79. Turn is a lovely 9, and despite the small amount of chips at stake it looks like I'm going out to a bad beat. That is until the miracle 10 on the river and I'm back in it!

Level 3 - 1200 chips - 2 hands later I look down at AA, my chance back in. Utg limps, next to act makes it 800, I move all in and both just call. Great chance for a triple up now. Flop comes down Qxx all diamonds, I look down hoping to see a beautiful Ace of diamonds, but she isn't there, I'm in trouble. First player checks, original raiser bets half the pot and makes him fold. Cards face up and all he has is AJ with the J of diamonds. Next card is a diamond and I'm gone.

Overall I didn't play great, or think I played too bad, just wasn't my day. Of course a great experience though and one I hope I get the chance at again. I hope to try satellite's for a lot more events like this in the future, just a shame I've got a couple of years to wait before I can have a shot at the WSOP ones! Until then, more events like this are hopefully on the cards.

Hope I didn't bore you too much with my report of a disappointing CPC attempt and good luck at the tables to anyone reading this.

BIIIIG CATCH UP !!!!

Ok, so I've got lazy over the past month or so and not bothered to update this blog. This has been due to nothing special to report on, my lack of desire for poker, and just general laziness on my part.

I say I've had nothing special to report on, but I guess going to the Carribean Poker Classic is worth a mention! Obviously I didn't win the thing or I'd have been ranting and raving about it way before now. Other than the Main Event I didn't bother playing any poker -I was too busy doing my load in the casino! With the girlfriend with me she was much happier sitting on the slots with me than being bored while I played hours of poker so that's what I did. Financially not such a good idea as of course the house always wins!

The Main Event itself I only lasted about 3 hours in. I won't bore you with the details now but if you want to read about what happened I'll make a seperate post about it after this one.

Since returning from the Carribean I haven't played much. I've probably only had about 5 poker sessions, which isn't really good enough. I did win a couple of grand playing my old favourite Limit Holdem the week I got back. I made a promise to my uni flatmates that for the rest of term 25% of whatever I won during the day would be the nights drinking kitty. So over the past few weeks I barely played and spent quite a bit of any winnings I did make. Had a few bad sessions at limit since winning in the first week back, so I've decided no more Limit Holdem for me at the moment. The $20/40 and $30/60 tables have got so aggressive it's just a lot harder to beat than it was 6months ago.

I've decided I really need to start grinding out winnings again and play a lot more. So the last couple of days I've gone back to 4-tabling £60 6pak's. This seems quite small as at one point I was playing the £300 6paks but I've decided for now I'm best off building up my money doing this, and its the definately the safest option as I'm sure if I play many of these I can make good money again. I just need to put the hours in!

I've got a lot of coursework due in the middle of January at uni and I don't have a clue what any of it is on, so until that is out of the way I won't be able to put 2 many hours in, but once it is I plan to get back to the old ways and play at least 20 hours a week. Time to grind out some decent money.

Over the next couple of days I'll hopefully do a bit of a 2005 review and 2006 goals kind of thing like I've seen on most other blogs.

If anyone's reading I hope you've had a great Christmas and enjoy the new year!