Aspers £75 Freeze Out

Since I've started playing online cash tables, the lure of the casinos and the tournaments that I used to frequent every week with Azz / Cusworth / Carl / Ad has been diminished drastically, meaning that I hardly ever bother to play in them any more. Seeing as William Hill were throwing in extra money to the prize pool, and Brennan / Carl / Mark were all up for playing, I decided to make an exception for this and played on Friday. Probably the most important reason for playing though was to get more experience of deep stack play, which I will need if I ever get lucky enough to qualify for a big satellite.

Anyway, I sit tight for first 30 minutes or so, watching Sky Sports News in silent which Aspers considerately put on next to our table, and don't get involved in any hands. Once I saw the Mighty Spurs claim a deserved last minute winner, I thought it would be wise to go back to concentrating on the tournament. I get 2 streets of value with KT on a Kxxx board before checking back river to scoop pot versus a presumed flush draw, then lose it all back when my A7 2 pair is check called on turn and river - 567A2 - I thought I was value betting but alas his 66 slow play is good.

Break sees me even in chips, then more sitting tight before I hit a golden patch of hands. My AT limp sees me hit a 3 suited flop - me A draw - and my flop shove over abet and call is folded to me. I then pick up Ak which splits blinds with another AK, then AQ which I ship in versus short stack KQ (and hold). I then get magic double up, when after raising my 4th hand in a row I get shoved on by JJ - luckily my KK holds and I'm up to 35k with average on 19k and BB on 1k. Happy days at second break.

Carl and Brenos busto in trademark fashion - Carl running out of chips and good cards, with Brenos spunking his stack away after drinking too many shandies - before I join Mark 'Sensey' Suddes on his table. I get a couple of helpful tips - which I'll use in future - before I witness his BB defence with A6 fail to suck out versus a button 'stealer' with AK. Maybe he's not such a luckbox after all....

After losing some chips with JJ raise + cbet - then fold to check raise on Q84 board - I get back to my 35k stack level when I raise and check raise all in on a 889 two suited board. I'm not sure it was the optimal play with QQ, but I figure a cbet and a call leaves me in a shit situation on most turn cards, and I could appear to be on a draw myself leading my one opponent to call me with a pocket pair they figure to be racing - e.g 55-77, or a draw themselves which I'm in decent shape. It mattered not as they folded and I made it to last 40.

I get moved tables again and blind a few rounds away, before making a steal attempt with JT. My stack at this stage is down to 25k so I'm not looking great with BB of 1.4k shortly moving to 2k, so I know I need to hit a hand soon. Either that or pick off the blinds. Anyway, small blind calls and flop comes 78T. Small blind then check raises my cbet all in - leaving me 15k to win a 50k pot. In my early days I know I would consider folding here, as presume to be beat, but when I see the board and work out his hand range, a bluff or semi bluff here is his most likely holding - e.g. 9T, 89, A9, flush draw - and my odds dictate I have to call. He promptly shows expected A9 and he hits a jack on turn. My redraw fails and I lose my 66/34 'race' to exit in about 38th.

I was a bit gutted as if I had won that I'm right back in the mix with over average stack. I made a few mistakes in the tournament too though so can't pretend I'd have been a favourite against the strong field, but would have been nice to have hung around a bit longer - especially as first prize was over £3k. I'll play these again though and hope to run better next time...