For those of you not in the know, Manchester235 has brought back its poker tournaments.
The newly-designed poker lounge downstairs looks really smart; my poker buds Sam and Mike were impressed too.
The break came and I was having a miserable start. Play became much tighter; the Norwegian's were less aggressive – and still sober after six Jaeger's each.
The game began and I started assessing the competition. There was a good mix of ages (early 20s to 50s) and nationalities (Norwegian, American and Polish to name a few), mainly guys and Mike's friend Abigail to help represent the ladies.
The first 20-minutes saw a conservative start, considering it was the re-buy period. Play started getting more aggressive towards the end, mainly by the Norwegians who seemed to be dominating the chips in between drinking Jagermeister.
The break came and I was having a miserable start – a re-buy and double-add on helped after we returned. Play became much tighter; the Norwegian's were less aggressive – and still sober after six Jaeger's each.
I started seeing better hands and found I was chip leader for the start of the final table. Abigail, entering the final table with the shortest stack, doubled up with her tight, patient play, but finally got blinded out and was fourth to leave.
A rather loud and jolly American, Marv, was tipping Polish Annti to win, and helped with what he described as a 'desperation bet'. Annti went all in with Q10 – Marv called with K5 and the flop was A, 2, 10, 4 and 9 to see Annti double up. But despite his fan club, Annti was seventh out to Marv's set of queens.
I was expecting a much tighter game with the next player going out 'on the bubble' – just before you can win any cash, to the uninitiated. After a quiet few hands, I knocked out Kevin Chui with pocket aces against his pocket 10s. The board cemented my win, flopping another A and 88 for a full house. Lowest stack Andy smiled to see he had unexpectantly entered the money.
Later I found myself calling Marv's all-in with my AQ spade-suited – a hand I've always hated to play. Marv turned over pocket Jacks and the flop didn't help me – Marv's pockets held. After managing to keep chip lead for most of the game, I'd lost half my chips to Marv.
Andy left the table next with a pre-flop all-in to Marv, taking £110 with him to pay off his girlfriend who'd spent the last five hours waiting for him.
The heads-up lasted a relatively short 30 minutes. I went all-in with KQ to Marv's A4 club suited – Marv hit his Ace on the flop and walked away with £280 and the £40 Linen voucher for my bounty. I was more than happy to take my second prize of £170 – I'm hoping this luck continues.
C 2 The GNovember 15th 2010.