Aspers £75 (+£5) NLH D/C

Yo FTP. Saturday 30th January & I travelled w/MT to Aspers for their monthly 16:00 £75 MTT, arriving late due to weather conditions we were worried we would miss the additional 2,000 on time chip bonus. However it appeared we weren’t the only late shows & the start time was delayed by approximately half hour ensuring we were registered in time for the bonus chips, N1. 43 by the end of the BI period made for a pot of £3225 which was distributed between the FT;

1) £1115
2) £640
3) £320
4) £260
5) £230
6) £190
7) £160
8) £130
9) £100
10) £80

I found myself drawn T3-S3 w/NPFers;

1) mugpunt (D)
2) cindabella
4) BOB THE GOB
7) CGK

Table was really good crack & moved along swiftly w/o any hollywooders slowing the game, I didn’t have anything to play during 1st couple of hours so was relatively inactive & just made it to the break w/my starting stack. Shortly after returning I lost half my stack w/KK vs. 79 after I’d opened 3.5x UTG+1 at 100/200 to 700 & BB looked me up to go HU & he C/R my flop CBET of 7x9hh & I flatted, CC OTT & I called small VBET OTR, sigh NVM. I recovered not long after when I got my chips in w/AKo vs. mugpunt’s AA & found my 7% when board ran xKxKx, which TBF I should have passed after he 3BET me PF but I wasn’t in the mood to SS & had a friends party to get to if I bust so just gambled. Table broke at 19:00 & I got T1-S4 w/NPCers;

2) Richard Baker
3) Mark Trett
4) Claire Millward
6) NRH
7) Barry

1st hand I get dealt AKo vs. MT’s 2.5x open so 3BET 2.5x which gets through & although I’m not accustomed to showing my cards I wanted to cut out any thoughts of collusion immediately so flashed the table my AKo as MT showed his folded KQs. Stayed a little above CA until I doubled up Claire Millward w/AKo vs. her JJ which dropped me too around half CA, LOL just noticed 3/4 of the hands I’ve reported have been AK cue the Scotty Hocking jokes.

FTP GIM: Blinds 300/600 & MT opens UTG 2.5x w/13BB holding JJ & folded around to Richard Baker who 3BETs 2.5x out of the BB & after deliberation MT folds face up despite being SS & Richard respectfully showed AA confirming MT’s read.

I never recovered & my stack went south as I incorrectly VBET xxxKx OTR w/K4 vs. KQ & found my JJ 2.5x open 3BET AI off Claire Millward & make the fold leaving me w/15 BB, sigh FML. I eventually got it AIPF w/12BB from C/O w/A3o & NRH made the call out the SB w/44 who by all a/c’s had played really well, his 44 held & I promptly shook his hand before heading out on the town to catch up w/friends. MT recounts his day including £75 D/C, £30 F/O, & 200NL;

MT “So on Saturday afternoon I went down to Aspers and played thier monthly £75 FO with my bro. It was my first appearance on the NPS in my Coral clothing and I didn't want to let myself down. I was on the same starting table as fellow NPFer NRH who I must say from the few hours I played with him played really good poker and I wasn't surprised to see him go on and chop the tourney. So, anyway I gather a bit of early momentum and after a few hours of play I've got a good stack and sitting above chip average. I then decide to call off half my stack vs a maniac loose villain with my 88 vs his AK. Not something I would usually do but was a situational thing and after thinking it over I'm still happpy with the call. Although I never really recovered after. I had to fold JJ pre with only 13BB's and then lost half my remaining stack running a bluff trying to get back into the game. I eventually went bust when I tried a little 'Stop & Go' on Steve “fatfish” Brennan, coincidently with same exit hand as Bolton (Q4) although I had looked and was suited. Anyway I flopped a FD on a 8TX flop and stuck my remaining stack in. Brennan say’s he’ll gamble and calls for middle pin with QJ. The turn and river both brick and QJ high is good enough to send me to rail. Initially I thought he'd hero called me and read my soul before realising he'd called for the gutterball. Maybe a bit of both. He was well stacked and had good equity in the hand vs my range.

Anyway, I went out just in time for late registration for the 8pm £30 game. With 69 runners and over £700 for first place it seemed good value. Due to the unforgiving structure and all the cash tables going on I made a decision to get pretty active & again I managed to gather some early momentum. However, this time around I never looked back. Although, that said I did get crippled at about 18 players left when I called a CO shove from the BB with AK. Villain tables AJ and a J high board felts me to only 5BB’s the last hand before break leaving me with only 10,000 chips @ 1,000/2,000 blinds. I somehow managed to chip back up to average without a showdown or AI confrontation and by FT I was either 1st or 2nd in chips. Once it was down to 5 handed we agreed an even chop for 300HUNDO each despite me having the tourney chip lead. We played out for the remaining £70 in the prize pool. After eventually getting HU I double him up with TP vs his flush giving him a slight CL. A bit of small ball poker before I raise the BTN with AQ. Villain ships AI and I call. On our backs and my AQo vs villain's A5o looks good enough for me to take the extra £70 and the kudos of the win. The board falls JJ5-X-X and I end up 2nd. NVM. It was a good game and I enjoyed the company and a few friendly tables. IDK name of lad who won but he was a really nice lad, played well and deserved his victory.

So after 12 hours of MTT poker at about 3.50am I sat down for some 200NL action. I sat down with £200 and was quickly up about £25 before being moved from a 'feeder' table to the main £1/£2 table. It was a tougher table and I found myself OOP to Sam Lam who was playing very laggy. I lost a £100 pot when unknown villain rivered 2 pair on me then pretty much fucked straight off which was a little tilting. I spewed a bit here and there and was quickly down to £100 before reloading back to £200. With being stuck for a HUNDO so soon after sitting down I started to chase my loses a little bit and went on to make a series of bad, light, and tilted calls including over playing AK. The difference to online cash poker was clear to see but due to my tilted and tired play I wasn't seeing the benefits and although I felt I could beat the game I just couldn't catch a break which kind of tilted me even more. I lost pot after pot and soon I'm down to my last £25 quid and sick it in with 33 vs Sam's 66. So by 5:50am (2 hours) I was stuck for 3HUNDO. FML. 12hours of MTT poker for £300 winnings and I give it all back on the 200NL in 2hours. So I went for a cool off and played roulette for a little bit and had a coffee. After about 30mins or so I went to get Dan to go home (about 6:30am) He persuaded to stay due to table being so soft & I reluctanly agreed knowing my wife and kids would be up soon. So I sat down with the last £105 I had in my wallet. I'm pleased I did. An hour and a half later at about 8am I got up with £450. I'd recovered all my loses from the first cash session and some. WOW. They were pretty volatile session(s) but ended well. My main hands in this last session included stacking two short stackers, once with A9o vs JJ all in on the river AQxx9 and the other was 4d6d vs AA all in on a 35x flop, the 7 on the turn had him drawing dead. I also won a pretty big pot with 88 vs 22 all in on a 28x flop for roughly a £300 pot. I must say it was really good crack on the last table and I enjoyed the company of Simmy3k, Charlie and of course my drunk brother. We were all making jokes about how cold the deck was when we were getting paid off from some of the less experienced players. So at 8.00am we get up and I'm home for 9:00am to face the music with the wife. Truth be known I'd probably still be there now if it was up to Dan, I still haven’t slept (16:30 Sunday afternoon) total knackered but well worth it."

So after meeting friends over Revolution I quickly ordered a tray of 5 vodka shots including a sicko chilli shot & a jug of absolute shambles to catch up, an hour later & I was fucked as we bar crawled around Ohso, Perdu, & Florita’s. The lads headed to Digital which isn’t my scene so I made my way back over Aspers around 2:30am to sweat MT who was on the FT of £30 F/O & play some 200NL, but 1st I trawled the card room hassling NE regulars & 1st class players James Browning, Steven Liu, & Hamid Rowshanaei who probably CBA w/me but so the funny side of my drunken profanities. I set up camp over 200NL for next 5hrs as I had the pleasure of sitting w/NE locals;

Simmy3k
Kieran Appleby
Sam Lam
Syed “Zaffa” Zaidi
TJ
Charlie
Gary Collins

& various others, sorry if I’ve forgotten to give anybody a shout out but I can be forgiven considering my impaired drunken state. I won’t bore you w/any CG hands just say I was pretty active being up & down like a yoyo before eventually cashing out w/£104 profit at 8:00am because MT had to get back to see to his family, or else I’d probably still be their now (15:00 Sunday afternoon) drinking w/Simmy3k.

Finally I would like to pass my congratulations to NRH & Richard Baker who are both good friends of mine & I understand they went on to split 4 ways, so VWD lads N1. I’m over Circus on Tuesday for their monthly £50 (+£5) NLH F/O w/£500 added so I’ll report that & sorry for the delay w/Las Vegas 2007 Trip Report it’s taking a little longer than expected because it’s more nights out rather than 10+ hour poker sessions which naturally make for a bit more effort & TBH I CBA to write it ATM but I promise I’m working on it so bear w/me all.

DT “Cheerio TTYAL”