Back in the Winners' Enclosure
After the disappointment of missing out on playing the UKPT £300 event at the Vic, I decided to play online for the first time in a while, to quench the poker thirst.
I was a little apprehensive after some brutal nights recently, but the evening was a success, and came in at a profit of a little under $1,000. I played tournaments only, and made one final table and two other cashes, as I started to find patches of my strong online form which had seemed a distant memory.
After suffering some questionable plays from my opponents in two early events, I had worried that my recent form was about to continue. However, with the aid of a slightly less expansive game, I began to build chips in most of my tournaments. At one stage it was beginning to look like it could be one of those special nights, but I suffered a triple collapse almost simultaneously in my remaining tournaments:
- We are approaching the bubble on the Full Tilt 50k guaranteed, and I have a little under average stack. I raise in mid position with , and the button calls and slightly has me covered.
Hmm - out of position.
Flop:
I bet the pot, and he calls.
Turn: Kh
Not ideal, but at least I have outs if he has the hearts. I shove with my top 2 and am amazed to find he has called my pot bet with . Gutshot, no hearts. I miss and am gone.
- Everest 15k Guaranteed
While the above hand is happening, I have suffered multiple disappointments on the final table of the Everest Event. I arrive at the table clear 2nd in chips, but due to the structure of the tournament and the passivity of the players I myself only have about 17 big blinds. Because we are not deep stacked, I get myself into 3 races in quick succession with 3 big blind stacks and loose every one. If one or two of those go my way then I am confident of winning it due to the reluctance of players to take risks despite the huge blinds, but I end up busting 4th I think for a little over 1k.
- Party Poker 18k Guaranteed
During my final table meltdown on Everest, I have progressed nicely in the Party Event which I think has a very nice structure, and really good software. I’d go as far to say it has become my favourite site now, but that is bye the bye. We have 33 players remaining (60 got paid) and I get all my chips in (slightly below average stack) against a big stack, my 77 verses his 55. He raised first and I shoved over the top of him from the big blind. I guess he hoped he was taking on a race, but unfortunately for him I had an overpair. However, there was good news on the turn for him when a 5 popped out to send me spinning out of the tournament.
So, a good night, but I can’t help feeling it could have been a great one. Still, money in the bank, and I’ve withdrawn the Everest winnings to put towards next year’s live poker adventures. Judging on my previous dealings with Everest, when this cheque actually turns up is any one’s guess, but hopefully I won’t have to write any more angry e-mails.
One observation I would make, is that the standard of play is considerably different between a European site like Everest and my usual Full Tilt tournaments. Several times I saw people let their stack dribble down to just over 2/3 big blinds before shoving with their AJ. My favourite incident was a guy raising in mid position to 3 times the blind for 70% of his stack, and I just min raise him from the big blind with QQ with my huge chip leader stack, knowing that he can’t pass…except he does (?). He is of course eliminated soon after. This very rarely happens on the US sites. I don’t necessarily think that the average American is superior to the average European, but more perhaps the fact that the best players are naturally attracted to the sites that offer the biggest fields and the biggest guarantees (i.e. Stars and FT).
In any case, I am thinking of incorporating a few more of the euro sites into my schedule.