Normally the "World Championship Of Amateur Poker" (WCOAP) would have had all my attention and I'd have entered 1 or 2 side events and the Main Event for sure.
They run it like a mini WSOP and it's terrifically well run by Des, Tighty, Leigh etc and as it's held at DTD you know it will go smoothly.
However this week I've been torn between my desire to make an Amateur Poker Association Tour (APAT) Final Table and the fact that I won 4 seats for the GUKPT Goliath at the G Coventry.
I'd have been insane not to take advantage of them and I must say I'm glad I did. Even though I love the whole APAT thing and everthing it stands for I have been hugley impressed with the GUKPT Goliath.
1765 runners over 3 day ones and it's run like clockwork. The venue has come out smelling of roses and I'm really pleased for them as it's one of my local casinos. I get on well with all the staff and 99% of the customers in there so really enjoy playing there.
I'd go as far as to say that I'd rather play there than the Broadway these days and that really is saying something. A nice touch by the GUKPT was to add a free team event where any six players could just name themselves to be in with a chance to win $1,000 for nothing.
I was asked by Baz "God" McDonald to join the "God Squad" and even though we had a strong line up, ( Baz, Paul O'Callahan, James Dewhurst, me, Jordan Forde and one other who's name I don't know) it's unlikely we are going to win it. Apart from me only Jordan has made day 2. Though Jordan has massive chips and is very likely to cash I guess we'd need more than 2 of us to make the money to have a chance.
Having won the 4 tickets it meant I could play day 1a and not worry too much about busting out as I could have re-entered.
The problem with playing the Goliath on the day 1a Wed and thinking I might be playing again on day 1b Thurs has meant that I really couldn't enter any APAT side events. Also to make matters worse I'm really busy work-wise currently as well.
As it happened I made slow but steady progress throughout the day and got to a peak of 180k at one point and I didn't have my chips at risk once all day. Sadly in the last 2 levels when the blinds were huge (2.5k/5k/500) I didn't win a single pot.
If I'd just had an ounce of luck I could have finished on over 250k. I doubled a couple of short stacks losing flips and also opened the very last hand of the night from UTG +1 for 12.5k with A5s into a player who had just sat down with a huge stack.
This really is below my range for UTG +1 but desperate men do desperate things and I really felt I needed to try and take a pot.
It was the usual disaster and I ran into AQ in the BB though luckily she didn't 3 bet me and I lost the minimum. (Well almost the minimum as I could have folded pre).
So the plan for the weekend is to be knee deep in BIG Live Donkaments from early Saturday right through till late Bank Holiday Monday.
If I could pick a weekend to run good then this would be a good one. When I say good I actually mean absolutely "Golden". You know what I mean: someone open shoves a short stack and the big stack re-shoves and when it's folded to you, you look down and see AA or KK.
I actually haven't run that good since 1987 but it will happen again one day I'm sure and why not this weekend? To be honest if I could win a string of races or 60/40's I'd be very happy.
I resume the Goliath on day 2 Saturday 12.00 noon and I have 119,300 and the chip average is approx 160k and blinds will be 3000/6000/500. The prize pool has smashed the £100,000 guarantee and is now £176,500.
It will be a fairly prestigious event to win, especially being the first one and the first prize will be a very big chunk by my standards.
I'm guessing that about 300 will return with me for day 2 (day 1c is running as I write this) and the top 10% will get paid, approx 177 players.
If I run brilliantly and make day 3 of the Goliath then I will have to get unregistered from the APAT main event day 1b which starts on Sunday. Normally I would be thrilled to be playing the APAT but for once I hope not to be there.
It really is a major annoyance that they clash. Obviously if I run like I normally do in these big events then the very first time I get my chips all in, at risk, I'll be putting my coat on and heading to Nottingham.
Either way I'm guaranteed to be playing in a big live event over the weekend and as always it will be emotional I'm sure!
Wish me luck.
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