Tourneys.........

Since my last post I have played 7 tournies. Nothing unusual there you might say, I am a poker player after all, but I will provide a brief synopsis for you on them. All of these were played in the Fitz

Tourney 1: €125 Freeze out.
Only 16 runners for this, the first running of this event. However I get an early double up when I raise KQs, and take a free turn card which hits my middle pin for the straight against a flopped set. From there on I was consistent but by the time I got to heads up I was outchipped by 5-1. However, there was still plenty of play left in this tourney, and 90 minuntes later I emerged victorous after a swinging battle which saw me draw level, then go 10-1 up, then go back to behind again, then finally win it. Very enjoyable.

Tourney 2: IO sat, €110, with 1 rebuy or topup.
29 runners in this, 1 ticket and some cash for next two, but eventually 3rd and 4th got 180 each instead of 360 for 3rd, just to get money back. I had an early rebuy in thhis, but then played a good game to get to a tough final table. The final 5 were myself, Denis Reyes, Ronan Ryan, Paul Cryan and Thomas "Bomber" Nolan. It was a very tough lineup aand I never really got to where I wanted to be with this and finished 4th. Ah well, mney back sort of.

Tourney 3: League final, freeroll.
This is a bit of a crapshoot with the structure in place, but I started with plenty of chips. Never got going really sadly and exited around 4 from the money for the second time in a row in this. Ah well.

Tourney 4: Monday Freezeout, €80.
35 runners or so, and a very enjoyable game. I got lucky once when I called a preflop raise with QJ from the button. It was checked to me on a flop of Kxx and I shoved. I was well goosed when called by KT, or so I though, but a T on the turn and an A on the river saw broadway materialise from nowhere. Then I cruised to the final table where I made a big/marginal/bad play 4 handed when I shoved all in after a raise and a smaller allin with AQ, and the original raiser shoved after a big think. I was up against KK and TT, and lost both pots to be down to 4k utg with blinds of 1500/3k. I doubled up and a bit more 3 times in 10 minutes, taking out another player in the process, so then we were 3 handed, and one of them was the guy I was headsup with in tourney 1 above, and he had a big chip lead, so some sort of deja vu developing. Sadly it didn't work out as I finally made a stand with AT and ran into the CL's JJ. gg, wp.

Tourney 5: Tuesday €55 DC.
65 runners in this and the usual poor standard. I received a few nice donations and was comfortable until I tangled with a very aggerssive Dutch player who was just to my right the entire tournament. He raised for the umpteenth time (to 8k) and I shoved over the top for 34k with AQ. He instacalled with KK, and oops. Maybe I should have played it differently, but I have seen him make big calls with less than premium hands, so maye it wasn't that bad a play. Hindsight is great it seems. I finished 12th in this when another FT seemed inevitable.

Tourney 6: IO sat, €110 with 1 rebuy or topup.
Same structure as the above one, but 37 runners for this with 1 ticket and 2k in cash spread 2nd - 4th. I played some good stuff in this tournament I thought, and there were some very aggressive players at my table all night so patience and picking spots paid off a few times, and I was comfortable in this all night pretty much with an excellent, almost too good for Thursday night, structure. Got to the final table of this again at 1.30 and there were a couple of good players, a couple of bad aggressive players, a couple of poor players, and one or 2 that I didn't know much about. There was a good bit of cagey play in this as there was still loads of play left. After a while though we were down to 4 again with one good, one bad, and one aggressively bad player left with me. the aggressive player eventually committed hari kari, and we were down to three. I was second in chips at this point, and a couple fo key ahnds happened against the bad shortstack. I get QQ in the small blind, and after the button folds I call only. The BB has only 33k left after an 8k BB. Flop comes JcJd5c, and I check again hoping he will shove, and he duly does. I call quickly and he turns Tc6c for the flush draw. no messing about and both turn and river are clubs, and I have none. Damn. Five minutes later I raise from the button to 22k with Kh6s. SB calls, and BB folds after a big think. Flop comes Ks8h7h. SB checks and I shove for more than he has. He thinks and calls with Jd9d. WTF? The inevitable T for the middle pin only out fell on the river. Next hand I have 1/4 of my stack in on the BB so I get the rest in and lose. FFS. Ticket there for the taking and I get done twice to got out 3rd for €500 at 5.30 am and work in the morning. I was so gutted.

Tourney 7: €60 with 1 rebuy for €50. Scalps.
I decided to get back on the horse and play another tourney straight away as cash games were very up and down for me with no consistency. I used all my patience in this game and once I got a couple of double ups from an aggressive player I was flying. I got to the final table with no real drama, and was about 5thin chips with a big chip leader, Dave Finnegan. I mad one 'leave my blinds alone' play with A4o which I checked , but bet a flop of 833. Button, who had limped, minraised to 6k. I instantly shoved when it got back to me, and he folded after a think. I showed (a rarity) and he quieted down a bit after that it seemed, but considering that everyone else at the table (bar one) fell to Daves monster stack within half an hour, it was hard to tell anything really. I got headsup somehow with 31k vs around 350k, so slightly outchipped. Dave seemed reluctant to double me up so it was cagey for a few minutes but then I did double up. I snapped off a few raises and bet flops a few times, and then got up to around 100k, when I got lucky to double up again with T8 vs K3 on a KT6 flop. a T on the turn sealed that deal. At this point we decided to chop it for a few reasons. It may not have been in my best interests but I was happy enough at that point with 1300 and we played a blind Omaha hand for the end of moneth ticket included in the prize. I of course won that as well, so not a bad night all in all. I only got 2 scalps though including one in the first 5 mins from someone who didn't rebuy, so a strange tourney really.

It has been an unusual run for me with some very consistent results, punctuated by some erratic cash results. I will try another couple of times to qualify for the IO, and I have no other real plans for the near future at this point, I guess I will just see what happens.

A very serious update for you there I know, but listening to commentary of the Liverpool FA cup match, it is hard to be lighthearted.