Trip Report - PP Tour

Yesterday (April 9th), I drove 100 miles to Bristol to play in the Poker Player Tour Event at the Gala Casino in Bristol. James (Pascal Le Fiscal) was also there. See also this thread.

Fuzzy picture (taken by casino staff person) of the two intrepid Ccers:

Bristol.jpg (http://www.cardschat.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=37320&d=1302450829)

More than 100 players gathered to play for a prize pool of £12,000 (approx $20,000). The field was a mix of online qualifiers and local regs who had bought in direct. James and I both qualified online for modest outlay ($30 in my case).

Play commenced at 1.00pm. 7500 chips, 30 minute blinds, the first level was 25/50. James was placed at Table One, Seat One, oddly enough.

During level two, I suffered a setback. A woman three places to my right seemed exploitable, playing too many hands from EP. I had therefore begun calling her preflop with anything that had flop potential, hoping to hit a hand and trap her. I struck gold with 67 on a flop of 774, but the disappointing end result was the loss of half my stack when she turned over the fourth 7 and a bigger kicker. 9, I think. Don`t know why she was playing 97 in the first place, but there you go.

When we took a meal break, around 4pm, James was in much better shape than me. I told him I was glad that at least I lasted long enough for the free lunch, but would be playing push-fold when we resumed and would probably be going home soon. No, he said, you will make a comeback. He had more confidence than I did.

Soon after the break, I doubled up by shoving A7 from late position. Big blind called with QJs, neither hand improved. During level 9, I doubled again when an opponent played into my pocket Kings and, by the third break, had a playable stack with the field now much reduced. I think James went out somewhere around this point, but he will probably tell us himself how his tourney went. He and I were never at the same table, or even close enough to see each other clearly other than during breaks.

The next phase of play was a tough one, seated now with nothing but solid TAG players. I had a little luck when I called a preflop all-in with AK. Opponent turned over KK, making me roughly a 2-1 dog, but I hit the Ace.

It was also around this time that I pulled off a pretty good bluff. The opponent looked at me closely and asked “Do you really have it ?”, obviously hoping to learn something from my reaction. I recalled that I had been seated at the same table with this guy through a good piece of the tourney and, figuring that my table image at this point must be pretty solid, I said, “You have been watching me play since two o`clock, mate. What do you think ?” and grinned at him. He folded.

I was standing 4th in chip count when the Final Table formed (around midnight), the Press circling around us with their cameras. During the next two hours, I heard spectators remark on the intense concentration displayed by the players as the chips flowed back and forth. Three were eliminated, one of them by me. Close to 2am came a critical beat which crippled my stack. Button raised my blind and I made an all-in re-raise. Figuring me for a re-steal, he called and showed K6. I turned over KQs for the dominating hand and the opponent stood up and began preparing to leave. There were gasps of amazement from spectators, reporters, and fellow players as small cards fell on the board to give my opponent a miracle straight.

Two hands later, I put my remaining chips in with pocket 8s and got two callers, AK and AQ, giving me almost an even chance of tripling up and getting back into the action, but it wasn`t to be. The board came AQ, and that was the end of my game.

I picked up £400 ($650) for 6th place, a reasonable day at the office, but did it by an unnecessarily tough route, losing chips when deepstacked and when there were weaker players at the table, and then scratching my way back in the later stages. It was slightly disappointing considering that 5th paid £1000 and I would have been 5th at minimum without that beat, but that`s poker.

Nice one Egon - sounds like a good (if long) day! I still might go to the Leeds one (oddly enough I'm playing 5 a side in an hours time right opposite the Gala casino) and thinking of satelliting in online like you did. How did you find the satellite play btw?

Good Job final tabling!!

congrats, and thanks for sharing your story.

Well done on making it to the final table and cashing. That's no small feat. I know it is disappointing to not TID entirely but don't get all glum. I like to think of all the others who didn't make a dime.

Thanks for the trip report!

Congrats on the final table! I really enjoyed reading about your trip.

Great job and great story. Keep up the good work.

I played an $11 Rebuy Satellite, which seemed soft to me. I believe James used the same route and he also did not find it very challenging.

Well done sir! Way to hang in there!

Excellent. Good cash.

wow expect you to hit the final table but was shocked by the sharing lol love the pic and story appreciate you sharing

Enjoyable read, thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to make one of these myself. Hoping for Birmingham in November once I get my poker back in gear. Working long hours and having a small amount of disposable income doesnt help. I'll be in Sheffield by then so fingers crossed I can get there! Looking forward to seeing you in next issue of PPM!

Top notch report, Egon. I literally could feel the energy of the room and the intensity of the play while I was reading. Enjoyed the accompanying photo as well. Congrats on the cash! The next one belongs to you.

Well Done !!!!

That was a great read, Thanks.

WTG on making the final table, and keep up the good work, please keep us upto date with your next game.

nice story ET, and well played for the cash!

Congratulations Egon!

Short writeup from me covering some of my adventures...

As Egon said, I was seated on Table 1, Seat 1 to start which was a good sign. We started 150 big blinds deep with 30 minute blind levels so I played a lot of early pots but couldn't hit anything, dropping down from 7.5k to around 6.5k in chips. I then won a 2k pot after betting flop and river with top pair to get back up to starting stack, where I stayed.

At 100/200 an old Irish guy sat to my left having just registered. He played a bunch of early pots and quickly was down to 3k chips. I raised 99 from CO or HJ, he shoved, everyone else folded and I quickly called. He had A5hh but an A in the window put me down to 5k.

Next hand I raised 66 to 500, and got two callers - the Irish guy and the BB. The flop came KKK, I c-bet and the Irish guy shoved. I snap called and he showed A7; this time I held to get back up to around 11k

A few hands later our table was broken (normally Table 1 wouldn't be broken until the end but they wanted to have the final table at the back of the card room so they had changed the order). I got moved to a table full of players I recognised - I'd say 6 or 7 out of 10 were regs who I'd seen playing before at least a handful of times at Gala Bristol. I didn't have an ideal seat; the guy to my left I knew was extremely aggro, and I had a few people to my right who I'd seen raising light before so I wasn't going to be able to steal easily.

We then had a buffet break, where the photo of me and Egon was taken, before we started again at 200/400/25 (11k stack).

About 15 minutes into the level I raised Q7s from the CO and got called by the loose BTN. The flop came AKx with one diamond, I c-bet and he thought for a bit before calling. The turn was a 7, I checked, and he bet 2k into around 4.5k. I thought for a bit, decided he could be floating light, plus I had two pair outs, and called. The river was a K, we checked down, and he showed A2o to take the pot.

I then blinded down a little, having around 7k at 300/600/50. Sitting in the big blind with 600 already invested, it folded round to the small blind who quickly made it 1.5k. I looked down at K6o and shoved, and he quickly folded. A guy opposite me went "show the bluff, it's good for the game", so I showed the K to cement my image as tight - I didn't want them to think that I was restealing light!

Next hand, it folded round to CO who made it 1.5k. I'd seen him steal a lot on Table 1 when I was sat with him, and although he'd been quieter on this table he'd still made a couple of steals from LP and I figured it was a good spot for him to steal because he'd been quiet so the loose aggro guy to my left in the BB was less likely to resteal light. After thinking this through I then looked down at A7o, which I quickly shoved my 8k or so with.

He thought for a good minute, before saying "I know you probably think I'm full of s---" or something along those lines, then called 10 seconds later and showed JJ.

The board ran out a promising 34x5 to give me and over and double gutter on the river but it wasn't to be and I went to watch the rest of the football match at the bar and have some food.

In the evening, I played the £20+3 75 cap and saw that Egon was getting deep. After busting early with AK < TT, I decided to play some cash. It started off well, going from £50 to £90 at 25p/50p after making a river call 4 way with A high and being right, but I lost a reasonable pot with 99 < QQ before jamming £20 with JJ and managing to lose versus 33, 33 and AJ to an A on the river...

I hadn't seen Egon at the final table break and I had to be up at 8.30 the next day (think I left the casino at 1.30) so didn't check in the cardroom itself to see if he was still in (the cash table I was playing was on the floor by the casino games) - would have railed otherwise!

Well done on a good score

[quote] It started off well, going from £50 to £90 at 25p/50p after making a river call 4 way with A high and being right[quote/]

thats not just a " being right " thing lol thats like some " ESP" thing or something .
thanks for sharing . enjoyed it

Congrats on the good finish Egon! Way to come back like that after taking beats like you did. Tournaments mostly come down to luck but it sounds like at least a lil skill won something for the good guys this time!

Hello all. I stumbled upon this thread and felt morally obliged to sign up and post.
I was at Bristol.

In which you may recognise a certain other person in the scenario Egon mentioned above...

I must say, it actually was a proper bad beat, and the only real one I saw in the tournament. I just said to a friend here I still feel guilty just reading about this... Egon took it stoically and like a true gentleman and professional, which actually made it all the worse!

I hope to offer a rematch, as I will be playing in both Leeds and Birmingham, one way or another!

Agreed. I personally went on the $22 with 5 seats guaranteed which was over before I realised... :s

There are also freerolls running (see this months pokerplayer magazine or follow @my_casinos on twitter) as well as $11, $22 and $33 tournaments for guaranteed seats.

Welcome to CC, m8. I am intending to play both Leeds and Birmingham also, subject to family and other committments, and will look forward to that rematch. Big congrats on your 4th place.

I qualified through a $22 too, although I think it was 9 seats guaranteed with 35 runners or so - decent value

gd value and wtg .gd luck,thumbs up.

WtG! Congrats guys!

Do they allow "check-raising" over on that side of the pond now? (seems like such a proper game over there... ie. guy joins forum to apologize for badbeat... cool!!). Kinda refreshing to hear after reading a bunch of the usual > 'hope ur Mom & ur baby dies in a grease fire you f'n donk!' stuff (< oline tourney obv.)

gl in the next ones!

(not sure why... but for some strange reason I always pictured "Pascal" looking more like a penguin?)

Thanks! Don't really know how I did it... by 1am I was totally frazzled - first live tourney - didn't realise how much it takes out of you!!

Of course now I have a lot to live up to, everyone will mock me cruelly when i go out before the first break!

Everybody starts from the small amounts raising then a bit by bit.
Congrats - every final table you get its like you 60% already won the tournament.