Any player that makes a Final Table in one of the G Cov's normal tournaments throughout the week gets a ticket to play the "Invitation Only" early evening comp on Saturday.
Over the 6 Saturdays these are played the player who wins and the player in 2nd go forward to the "Invitation Only Grand Final". 10k chips in the final for each Saturday winner and 5k for 2nd. So with the number of weeks this promotion is running for, the max number of players that can make the Grand Final is just 12 (that's if no one wins 2 seats). Those players will play winner takes all for a £1,070 GUKPT main event seat.
As an added bonus the winner also plays rake free for all tourney's they enter at the G Coventry till the end of 2011.
Regardless of how many seats you win for the Grand Final you can have a maximum of 25k chips in the final.
So prior to Saturday the 24th Sept I'd played the Invitational 2 of the 3 weeks it's been running (I missed the first one as I didn't know about it) and on Saturday 17th I finished 2nd guaranteeing me a seat in the Final though with just 5k in chips. (a P.S. to the report on that 2nd place, Dave Goody pointed out to me that his 5,6 that busted me in 2nd place was in fact suited. A fact I got wrong on my last post.)
So went again this week for the invitational but I only made 1 final table throughout the week so I had the minimum starting stack of 7.5k. For every additional final table you make you get an extra 5k. This really does help as the invitational has a 10 minute blind structure and it's a crap-shoot from quite early on. Having some extra chips does make a big difference so I wasn't that confident when I arrived. I believe that the "Final" will have a proper structure to allow some play.
Tim Millward-Brookes had 32.5k starting stack and was on my starting table. I know that getting chips off Tim is never easy as he plays a good solid game and I've often shared a cash game table with him. In my experience most of the best tournament players at Cov are also cash game regulars.
I had Tim 2 to my left and a lady 2 to my right and the 3 of us would end up being the ones fighting it out for the 2 Final Table seats.
The lady I've not played against before which is a bit of a surprise as I've spent so much time in the G Cov lately that she was probably the only player of the 27 runners who I hadn't.
The most dangerous player at the table is a guy called Steve who is best described as a "loose cannon". He is a big cash game regular at Cov and rarely plays tourneys. He won his seat by default when he entered a tourney whilst waiting for the cash game to start. When it did he left his chips to get blinded away and made the final table when he wasn't even there!
I've played cash against him a couple of times and I genuinely have no idea what he has in most hands as he seems very unorthodox. He seems to do well though as he gets paid when he gets a big hand. People seem to think he's always bluffing. He is a player that gives that impression and I always treat him with caution as he is happy to play big pot poker.
Initially Steve got off to a good start and busted a couple of players to go from 7.5k up to about 20k. When we are down to 7 handed the blinds are getting big by this time (400/800) and I still have about 8k.
I know it's close your eyes and shove time, and I get lucky(ish) against Steve as he's itching to go to the cash table in the pit which by this time is in full swing and has only 1 empty seat available! (Coventry City were at home Saturday and the cash games are always the best on these nights)
Steve makes a big raise and I shove with 8,8 and beat his A,J. Then the roles are reversed when I have AQ v his small pocket pair and I win again. Then he open shoves his last chips in and I call with 7,7 he has 5,6 and I don't even have a sweat. So in the space of 5 minutes I go from 8k to 28k and we are down to 2 tables.
At this stage not much happens to me but we lose players very quickly and we are down to the last 10. I start the FT with about 24k.
I go card dead which is not good as the blinds are now 800/1600 but when a short stack shoves from the CO when it's folded to him I raise to isolate with Ac5c from the sb. BB folds and the CO has K,J and I knock him out.
This gives my stack a big boost and as we lose other players I'm equal CL with 35k , Tim still has about 35k as does "Frenchy" who has by far the widest range at the table and the ability to 3bet very light.
The previous 3 weeks of this event had all been won by Dave Goody and though he makes the FT again he gets busted in about 6th or 7th. I then bust a surprisingly quiet Freddie "Happy 4u" Russell out. Freddie is always fun to have on the table as he is usually talkative but he was very quiet for some reason.
I felt a bit bad busting Freddie out as we nearly always have a chat on the breaks but what can you do in a tourney with only 2 seats to be won?
When we get down to 5 Frenchy is looking the most likely winner as he has got up to 70k+ and is playing well. He then (IMO) just over did the aggression a couple of times. In a raised pot pre-flop he check raises the lady on an Ace high flop and she ships in and he has to fold.
I like the way Frenchy plays a lot, but if I'm honest I feel it was a mistake to try that move on her. She had played the least hands of anyone at the table and clearly when she raises pre and the A hits the flop she was odd's on to be winning it. He then does an action replay and Tim 4 bet shoves to make him fold.
Up to this point he had been opening virtually every pot that was folded to him and it was paying dividends as he was just picking up blinds left, right and centre.
With the blinds at 1k/2k I'd had to let my bb go to him on several occasions. I normally defend far too light but I was being dealt total garbage when in the bb. I was surviving by picking up some blinds and I also won some smallish pots post flop. I think I then KO'd the player in 5th to go to take the CL.
The big game changing hand occurred when Frenchy (who was down to 58k but still 2nd in chips) opened for 5k (still at 1k/2k). We have history, and I played a pot against him the previous week (which I wrote about in my last post) where I had KK in the bb, though this was much different as we were nowhere near as deep. I also remember some previous hands we've played in similar situations in past tournies.
I had about 70k at this point and was in the bb. I look down at 3,3 and I'm not thrilled as it's a tough hand to play post flop if you miss versus this type of player. So I take just a little time to consider my options. I 1st thought of 3 betting as his range is so wide I know he's folding lot's of garbage at this point. I also know he's 4 bet shoving any decent Ace and almost any pocket pair!
When I checked the other 2 stacks (Tim & the Lady's) I thought I'd be mad to risk my tournament life in a possible flip (or worse) by getting it all in pre-flop.
I'd folded my blind a few times to him earlier and I figured that just a call might be enough to slow him down. I decided what I was going to do on the flop based on a couple of different board types (I won't post what they were as too many Cov regulars read this). I hate to call any bet without a plan in mind for the next betting round. That said and having paid the 3k extra, the door card changes my plan as it's a 3.
I check and he bets about 10k. I think it was 3,J,2 but I can't remember. (I remembered the 3!)
I call the 10k and the turn is another 3 for quads!!!! I can't remember the exact amount but I take a chance and lead out and he ships all-in on me!
I snap call and turn them as fast as I can but he knows he's dead before they hit the table as he has just Ace high and a draw.
F' me quads twice in a week! I flopped quad 5's less than a week before versus pocket Kings in a normal comp at Coventry. I don't think I've run this good since 1987.
At this point I have 130k and my 2 remaining opponents have about 70k between them. I feel very confident at this point, in fact too confident and I said something I regretted as soon as I said it. It was along the lines of "which one of you two is going to bubble this?"
It was a little bit due to the high I was on after KO'ing Frenchy and also as I wanted to make them aware if they weren't already that someone was going to finish 3rd and get nothing.
I figured that I could raise and take any pot I wanted as they would be under big pressure to get one of the 2 available seats. However Tim to his credit started shoving all in when I raised and if he didn't then the lady was calling my raises and then hitting the flop! Blinds were 1,500/3000 now and I was quickly down to 100k and things were not going well.
At 2k/4k (10 minutes later) we all three had equal stacks and I started to get really scared that my bubble comment was going to come back and bite me.
At 3k/6k 10 mins later I was the short stack with just 60k!!!!!!!
I shoved all in light (the only time I was really worried I was going to bust) from the sb and thankfully Tim folded from the bb.
Thankfully then things got into a nice easy rhythm as I was opening for a min raise from the button versus the lady's bb and taking the hand down time after time. She was playing very tight and I had loads of walks on my bb. I was a lot more careful raising Tim's bb as I know his shoving range is much wider so I generally had a good hand when I raised from the sb. So things were generally starting to turn my way again.
A funny moment occurred when a complete novice poker playing spectator asked us what game we were playing. When we told him it was holdem he said, "so what's that game on that table", pointing to the adjacent 50p/£1 cash game, when we told him what that was he thought about it for a couple of seconds and said, "so why are you not having any cards in the middle?
I got back up above 120k and Tim was now the short stack as he'd lost a pot to the lady.
The bubble hand I raise from the sb with J,9 and Tim shoves all in for his remaining chips but it's far too small an amount for me to fold as I'm getting over 2/1 for the call. I'm surprised to find that I'm ahead and my hand holds up and we lose Tim in 3rd place.
I felt sorry for Tim as he's a good guy, I have to say that he reads this blog :) and he plays @ Cov a lot and I know he must really want to make the Final. But in poker terms I'd rather have the lady as an opponent at the Final table any-day.
We get in to HU play and it's easy at the start, 70% of hands go like this, either A) I min raise from the sb and take the hand or B) get a walk from the bb. I had so many walks from her it was daft.
Playing like this with barely a flop being seen I get her down to 46k by the time the blinds are 6k/12k. (Me about 164k)
Then the Poker Gods slap my earlier arrogance down, and in the space of 4 hands I'm out!
I open for 24k with Qd,7d and she ships all in (46k total). Now I cannot believe my hand is winning as she has been uber tight but for 22k I have the chance to win it all so I make the call.
With the cards on their backs I'm totally shocked to see she has Jh,3h. I think she really had just got fed up of what I was doing to her hand after hand and had an "oh Feck it" moment. I also know that her other half, who was sitting a little too close to the table for my liking, had told her on a couple of occasions that I was just bullying her, and she finally made a stand.
When the door card was the Q of spades I figured it was over as I had top pair. The board was Q,6,9. With 1 poxy heart on-board. The turn was the 4 of hearts and I started to worry a bit and sure enough the river hit the heart flush. FML I had it nailed on to win the event and get 10k chips for the Final Table to add to the 5k I have for finishing 2nd the previous week.
Still reeling from this the cards are dealt and I'm not even thinking straight. I then make the 1 and only bad decision I made in the entire tournament and it cost me the HU match. (well I didn't make a decision that was the problem it was just a instinctive reaction).
Head still spinning while she announces all-in from the sb and I look down and see 8,8. I snap call. What a cock. Now I know a lot of serious HU players are never folding 8,8 pre-flop but this was different.
She shows 9,9 and apart from AK, AQ and maybe AJs that was the very bottom of her range. Why didn't I just give it even 10 seconds of thought process? If I had, I would have folded that hand all day long against her. It's never better than 50/50 and most times it's 20/80.
All I had to do was fold and go back to raise/take mode again. Obviously I lose the hand and she double s again to 184k and I have about 2 bb's.
I shove blind from the sb and she folds for 1 bb! Then she announces all in and I just call blind and I'm out losing a 40/60.
I was angry as hell when I left the table as I was still steaming from the runner/runner flush but thankfully I had the good grace to say wp and shake hands with her. I am ashamed with myself quite often as I'm very often dreadful when I lose, though it's normally just for a brief red mist moment or two. Usually within 2 minutes I'm fine, I find it best to quickly leave the table and then come back and wish everybody GL though when you are HU it looks a bit weird!
Later as I got over the bad beat I then started to think about the call with the 8,8 and realised for the first time that I'd made a monumental mistake. This put me in a worse mood, bad beats I can get over quite quickly, but knowing I've played bad really lingers.
By this time I was in evening comp and when I flopped a set of 2's from the button on a Kh,9h,2s rainbow flop the guy who opened the pot had Ah,10c and cbet. Why he did this when he'd missed I'm not entirely sure as there was an all in player and it's normal not to bet in these situations without a real hand as you cannot possibly make the all-in player fold.
He then called my flop raise and my big turn bet when another heart hit. The dealer then turned the 4th heart for him on the river and my urine was starting to boil.
He then shoved all in and though I tried very hard to be gracious to the lady HU I didn't bother this time, folding face up and telling him what a lucky fecker he was.
I won't name the guy as he's a regular but I will say I was really shocked as he's normally pretty tight so what possessed him to call my flop raise I really do not know. I would have put my mortgage on him having a K in his hand when he called on the flop.
As always I felt totally ashamed of myself soon after this childish outburst partly because I know it's utterly terrible and also the guy in question is a 100% nice guy. He certainly didn't deserve my outburst regardless of his play. What made my embaressmment worse was I didn't go broke in the hand and had to sit one from his left for the remainder of my time in the tournament.
Thankfully it didn't last too long as Tim, who was on my table again, shoved a very short stack all in (2,2) and the player next to him re-shoved (A,Q). I had AhKh and wondered if it was my turn to hit a heart flush and shoved my 10bb's in from the sb. Sadly the bb had KK.
So as Tim and I walk away from the table together he's telling me about the 3 way action from his perspective as we chat. This eases my mood down considerably as I realise that I should be happy about 2nd, it could have been worse!
The Ugly Side of Me.
If I could change one thing about my game it wouldn't be a poker skill type thing it would be my total inability to lose graciously at all times. Strangely in really big comps I rarely seem to moan, it's always in much smaller comps that don't really mean much?
I think a lot of the time it's frustration in easier games when I think I have an edge and feel I should be winning. I do admire people who are even tempered, my youngest daughter when she plays never ever gets the slighest bit bothered when she suffers a bad beat.
Summary
The standings so far in the Grand Final are as follows.
Dave Goody, 3 wins so capped at 25k starting stack
My Lady HU opponent, 1 win for a 10k starting stack
Me, 2 seconds so 1ok starting stack
Baz McDonald 1 second so 5k stack
A.N. Other 1 second, 5k, (I'm told he will be out of the country when the final is on)
With just 2 qualifying Saturdays to go there will be a maximum of just 8 players, that is assuming that none of the current 4 qualifiers finish in the top 2 again. I will be trying again though tbh I'm sick of the sight of the G Cov at the minute. I've been spending far too much time in there! As soon as the GUKPT is over I may go to play somewhere else for a week or two.
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