It does seem that I only ever post about the DTD GP series on this blog lately - this is a side-effect of having too much work on, so opportunities to play live have been limited. Also in recent weeks I have satellited into the Pokerstars Sunday Million, so have saved all my energy for that on weekends.
Anyway, this GP is a little different from previously. There are still a bunch of Day 1's (seven), and they still have the golden chip promotion however whereas the last GP was a £50 buy-in and €100k guaranteed prize pool, this one is £100 with a €200k prize pool. Basically, everything was doubled which sounds a great idea in theory however with a single re-entry allowed on any of the Day 1's, it does make it a little expensive for the general recreational player as they would really need to budget £200 plus the schools had just broken up and the weather was starting to improve. This all culminated in a slightly smaller field - not that you would notice on the first Day 1 (Saturday), but if there are significantly less people in the weekday games then the club could be facing a fairly steep overlay. Still, all that means good value for players....
I entered Day 1a, and as always strategised that I was going to play tight to start with and as always, it went out of the window. Best laid plans and all that.
I was sat at a table with some fairly aggressive young players. This is normally a time to tighten up the range, however after watching a number of hands I felt the patterns emerging could be exploitable if I picked my spot right. That spot came in a pot against a good young player from Manchester. I bet out on two streets with Ace high and then when the river card arrived and not only paired the board but put a flush out there, I check shoved. He tanked but then made a crying call which of course was good. That didn't work out too well, but I felt strangely calm as I now had a very short stack and with the prospect of firing the second £100 bullet, I had no real pressure.
I started playing all sorts of speculative hands in position and c-betting or check raising to take pots down. Eventually I was back up to 10k in chips (we started with 15k) and my loosey-goosey image helped when I doubled up against the player to my left when hit top pair on a Queen high board. So amazingly I maged to reach the break just ahead of the average.
A pivotal hand happened in the first hand back at the table. I picked up AA in the big blind, and was delighted to see a big pre-flop raise from early position and a call from mid-position. I 3bet and had two callers. The flop brought two Kings. I bet, the first raiser got out of the way and the mid-position guy called. The inconsequential turn looked harmless, and unless I was facing a king I was way ahead, so checked expecting a bet which I then planned to go all-in over the top, I did and was very surprised to see him turn over QQ. The end result though was I had more than doubled through again.
The guy next to me proclaimed to the table that it was clear I had a monster because I only EVER call pre-flop and I re-raised. He was right to a point, but that was more to do with my cards and ensuring I played position (we were also in the early levels still), however I made sure that the gem of info he gave people at my end of the table was put into good use, as in the next few hands I 3bet pre-flop twice and took the pot down both times. If only it was always this simple!
The break arrived and I moved table, where I stayed for the remainder. I don't recall too many big hands but I chipped away and managed to keep myself some distance ahead of the average stack through fairly standard play and ensuring I used my larger stack to good advantage. I did open-fold AK against a shove and a re-shove, which drew some surprise at the table but it ended up saving half my stack (I would have called against one opponent), and I made a couple of big calls against a player (Darren Burden) to my right who would end up being just a couple of thousand off the chip-leader at the end of the night.
The first was fairly standard and I was happy with my read. It was blind vs blind, and he had limped in and after he checked the Ace-high flop I bet and he called. I fired again on the turn and he put a bet out on the river, which I was fairly happy I was ahead of with second pair as I could not see him playing an Ace in his position. I called the river and he insta-mucked.
The second was much more marginal, and could have placed me in quite a bit of trouble. Darren raised from early position and I called with 5c5h. I missed the flop, which contained two hearts but bet when he checked. He called and the turn brought another heart. I called his bet with a specific rationale in my mind - I felt he was unlikely to have the flush as he would have tried to play for more value on the turn and whilst I felt he had the better hand, I didn't feel he was crushing me due to the betting pattern. With the flush on board and my cold call, I reckoned that if the river blanked then I may have an opportunity to represent the flush and take the pot. There was also an outside chance of a third 5 dropping. The river however was another heart. This, of course, made my flush however it is a weak one and any heart holding from him higher than a 5 had me beat. He pushed out around 18,000 chips into the middle and I really tanked - not only replaying the hand, but also counting out my chips to ensure that even if I called and lost I would still have above average. I really felt it was a 50/50 call but I made it, and he immediately said 'You got the flush?', I showed the 5 of hearts and he mucked angrily. Turned out he had two-pair and hated the four-flush board.
I think he felt I was fishing for a flush when the truth is, I wasn't. I was calling to hopefully get a card I could apply some pressure with and the heart wasn't something I wanted to see really. Whilst my play was a bit borderline to say the least, I also think he made an error with the river bet, as it was only ever going to be called by someone ahead. But hey, to coin a cliche - thats poker.
The final break ahead of the last level of the day came and went, and I had around 230k in chips. Given it is the last level, some of the shorties are pushing all-in to either bust or come back on Day 2 with more chips, and I therefore misjudged a few raises where I had to fold to short-stack shoves. Allied to this, my adversary above was on a mini heater (picked up JJ twice in a row, bust two shorties with each hand), so I pretty much decided to shut down. Last hand of the night, the button - who was the young lad from Manchester who was on my first table and had played with me all day - shoved all-in, citing a desire to not come back next week with a tiny stack. I had AT and was considering a call however Darren to my right, tank-called and I felt it better to fold and bag up my chips. Darren won the hand (77 vs AK) and that was it.
So another Day 2 at a Grand Prix event. My third in a row now. Out of 327 entrants, 39 made it through to the second day and I finished 7th in chips overall with 197,000. The average chip-stack is about 120k, so I'm in fairly good shape. Naturally, anything can happen next week but at least I have a chance at making it 2 cashes from 3 GPs. Fingers crossed.
But back to the potential overlay. As I type, both Sunday and Mondays entrants were down on expected, and the club need to reach something like 300 entrants each night Tues-Fri in order to reach the guarantee. Really can't see that happening, although I suspect there will be a rush on Friday night.
Perhaps what they should do in future is run the GP over three weekends instead of two. Fri/Sat/Sun/Fri/Sat/Sun could cover Day 1a-f, with Day 2/3 being the following weekend. I think weekend fields will always be higher, and this may be a solution. I suspect the next GP will be back to £50 though...
Will update on how I get on after Day 2, next Saturday
Anyway, this GP is a little different from previously. There are still a bunch of Day 1's (seven), and they still have the golden chip promotion however whereas the last GP was a £50 buy-in and €100k guaranteed prize pool, this one is £100 with a €200k prize pool. Basically, everything was doubled which sounds a great idea in theory however with a single re-entry allowed on any of the Day 1's, it does make it a little expensive for the general recreational player as they would really need to budget £200 plus the schools had just broken up and the weather was starting to improve. This all culminated in a slightly smaller field - not that you would notice on the first Day 1 (Saturday), but if there are significantly less people in the weekday games then the club could be facing a fairly steep overlay. Still, all that means good value for players....
I entered Day 1a, and as always strategised that I was going to play tight to start with and as always, it went out of the window. Best laid plans and all that.
I was sat at a table with some fairly aggressive young players. This is normally a time to tighten up the range, however after watching a number of hands I felt the patterns emerging could be exploitable if I picked my spot right. That spot came in a pot against a good young player from Manchester. I bet out on two streets with Ace high and then when the river card arrived and not only paired the board but put a flush out there, I check shoved. He tanked but then made a crying call which of course was good. That didn't work out too well, but I felt strangely calm as I now had a very short stack and with the prospect of firing the second £100 bullet, I had no real pressure.
I started playing all sorts of speculative hands in position and c-betting or check raising to take pots down. Eventually I was back up to 10k in chips (we started with 15k) and my loosey-goosey image helped when I doubled up against the player to my left when hit top pair on a Queen high board. So amazingly I maged to reach the break just ahead of the average.
A pivotal hand happened in the first hand back at the table. I picked up AA in the big blind, and was delighted to see a big pre-flop raise from early position and a call from mid-position. I 3bet and had two callers. The flop brought two Kings. I bet, the first raiser got out of the way and the mid-position guy called. The inconsequential turn looked harmless, and unless I was facing a king I was way ahead, so checked expecting a bet which I then planned to go all-in over the top, I did and was very surprised to see him turn over QQ. The end result though was I had more than doubled through again.
The guy next to me proclaimed to the table that it was clear I had a monster because I only EVER call pre-flop and I re-raised. He was right to a point, but that was more to do with my cards and ensuring I played position (we were also in the early levels still), however I made sure that the gem of info he gave people at my end of the table was put into good use, as in the next few hands I 3bet pre-flop twice and took the pot down both times. If only it was always this simple!
The break arrived and I moved table, where I stayed for the remainder. I don't recall too many big hands but I chipped away and managed to keep myself some distance ahead of the average stack through fairly standard play and ensuring I used my larger stack to good advantage. I did open-fold AK against a shove and a re-shove, which drew some surprise at the table but it ended up saving half my stack (I would have called against one opponent), and I made a couple of big calls against a player (Darren Burden) to my right who would end up being just a couple of thousand off the chip-leader at the end of the night.
The first was fairly standard and I was happy with my read. It was blind vs blind, and he had limped in and after he checked the Ace-high flop I bet and he called. I fired again on the turn and he put a bet out on the river, which I was fairly happy I was ahead of with second pair as I could not see him playing an Ace in his position. I called the river and he insta-mucked.
The second was much more marginal, and could have placed me in quite a bit of trouble. Darren raised from early position and I called with 5c5h. I missed the flop, which contained two hearts but bet when he checked. He called and the turn brought another heart. I called his bet with a specific rationale in my mind - I felt he was unlikely to have the flush as he would have tried to play for more value on the turn and whilst I felt he had the better hand, I didn't feel he was crushing me due to the betting pattern. With the flush on board and my cold call, I reckoned that if the river blanked then I may have an opportunity to represent the flush and take the pot. There was also an outside chance of a third 5 dropping. The river however was another heart. This, of course, made my flush however it is a weak one and any heart holding from him higher than a 5 had me beat. He pushed out around 18,000 chips into the middle and I really tanked - not only replaying the hand, but also counting out my chips to ensure that even if I called and lost I would still have above average. I really felt it was a 50/50 call but I made it, and he immediately said 'You got the flush?', I showed the 5 of hearts and he mucked angrily. Turned out he had two-pair and hated the four-flush board.
I think he felt I was fishing for a flush when the truth is, I wasn't. I was calling to hopefully get a card I could apply some pressure with and the heart wasn't something I wanted to see really. Whilst my play was a bit borderline to say the least, I also think he made an error with the river bet, as it was only ever going to be called by someone ahead. But hey, to coin a cliche - thats poker.
The final break ahead of the last level of the day came and went, and I had around 230k in chips. Given it is the last level, some of the shorties are pushing all-in to either bust or come back on Day 2 with more chips, and I therefore misjudged a few raises where I had to fold to short-stack shoves. Allied to this, my adversary above was on a mini heater (picked up JJ twice in a row, bust two shorties with each hand), so I pretty much decided to shut down. Last hand of the night, the button - who was the young lad from Manchester who was on my first table and had played with me all day - shoved all-in, citing a desire to not come back next week with a tiny stack. I had AT and was considering a call however Darren to my right, tank-called and I felt it better to fold and bag up my chips. Darren won the hand (77 vs AK) and that was it.
So another Day 2 at a Grand Prix event. My third in a row now. Out of 327 entrants, 39 made it through to the second day and I finished 7th in chips overall with 197,000. The average chip-stack is about 120k, so I'm in fairly good shape. Naturally, anything can happen next week but at least I have a chance at making it 2 cashes from 3 GPs. Fingers crossed.
But back to the potential overlay. As I type, both Sunday and Mondays entrants were down on expected, and the club need to reach something like 300 entrants each night Tues-Fri in order to reach the guarantee. Really can't see that happening, although I suspect there will be a rush on Friday night.
Perhaps what they should do in future is run the GP over three weekends instead of two. Fri/Sat/Sun/Fri/Sat/Sun could cover Day 1a-f, with Day 2/3 being the following weekend. I think weekend fields will always be higher, and this may be a solution. I suspect the next GP will be back to £50 though...
Will update on how I get on after Day 2, next Saturday
