I dont like the Vic much tbh, but this was one of the few plo rebuy MTT’s I have seen.

Firstly, the juice of £20 was extortionate imo.

So, onto the comp. I had decided a limit of £400 for the comp. I managed to only have one buyin and a top up so was within budget. I started the “normal” phase with 14k chips - blinds of 150 300 so very healthy.

92 started and after the first two levels of “normal” play we were down to 50 odd.

I was still sitting good with 38k when at 400 800 / 600 1200 things went wrong and I lost two pots which left me with only 12k. Blinds had gone to 800 1600 and we were down to 14. I had to find a spot and decided to go with KK 10 4 ss.

I raised pot under the gun only to be re raises by a 23k stack. I was committed and thinking I had run into AAxx.

Cards on their back and I was re raised with A K 10 4 rainbow!! WTF!?!?!

How good did I want it! lol

But they duly hit their ace and I was out just shy of the money. Maybe they misread their hand as AAK10 ?

So it was onto some cash, and knowing I could not get a train until 7am I was in no hurry. All games were full and I first got onto a £1 £2 nlh table - which was a tad booring to say the least and I soon moved to a £1 £2 omaha game. And what a game it was too! I sat with £400 and managed to get to £800 (most others only sat with £100 so it was hard work!) The game finally broke and I moved to the £2 £5 dealers game.

Sitting with the full £800, my first game was in the BB and it was super stud. Most people sat with £300 or so, but there were two people with £2k+ stacks.

I got involved with a guy who just kept betting pot. I was drawing to a low on 4th street and he was showing no possible low.The pot bet was now £400 ffs. So I call and now am committed to my whole £800 on the first hand! 5th street was a bingo card for me, I had made my low and now also had a baby flush draw and a straight draw. So I knew I was getting half the pot. I checked and he set me in for my last £100 or so.

My down card gave me the baby flush and I scooped a £1600+ pot. He only had AA in the hole and nothing else!! lol

I played this game for another couple of hours but couldnt string two winning pots together although I still managed to leave the game (as it broke at 7am) with just over £1500.

So a nice profit on the night (again), but disapointed not to have made the final table of the omaha MTT.

This comp this time really has highlighted how my game has changed over the last 2 years. One hell of a roller coaster ride is all I can say!

Started with 10k and in the first 2 levels I was bouncing between 20k and 10k at least 3 times, and in the next two levels I was bouncing between 30k and 20k.

At 400 800 level I had 43k and was sitting good. Then disaster struck when I lost 2 big pots and was back down to 11k and with blinds now 600 1200 was in real danger of going out. However, I managed to double my stack without seeing a flop with some well timed re steals. Then managed to double up again , finally finishing on 55k for the end of day one.

332 started, and only 52 made it to day 2. I had an average stack and blinds on the return were to be 1200 2400 so still alot of play - as there always is in this comp.

Day 2 was a quiet start for me with no major drama’s I managed to keep my stack at the 70k mark until I lost an 80k flip with 99 vs a shortie with AQ. This then put me in shove mode again. But again I managed to climb back up to 75k without too much trouble.

Then I played two hands that were to be my down fall - inside the money and 3 from the next pay jump. Lack of concentration is to be blamed tbh. Hand one occured when I was in the SB and i saw a shortie (40kish) shove in late position. I look down at A5 and instantly go to call. However, at the last minute I notice a raise to 11k infront of them. Seeing this I pull back my chips and pass. The initial raiser makes the call and its KK vs QQ. Flop comes 10 A A 5 2. So if I had not noticed the initial raise I would of stuck my chips in and would of been on almost 200k!!

VERY next hand Im on the button and think it has been folded round to me. I look down at QQ and shove (which I had been doing all the time on the button when folded to me) Both blinds pass , then I hear the words “call”. The same person who had raised the previous hand had raised again to 11k!

Now had I of noticed this, I would of just flat called the 11k without a doubt.

It turns out he had KK again!! and was against QQ again!! I got no help and was out.

Incidently, I think the flat call wins me the pot as the flop comes A high and I think he either chekcs to me of bets out weak 0 either way I would of shoved on the flop and won the pot.

So 2 mistakes cost me my tournament life, which I was so annoyed about as I make a conscience effort to concentrate 100% all of the time and had done so for the last 15 hours of play.

So there you have it, another close one. One day I will crack this tourney again - £28k was 1st prize.

Couple that with the fact that it is (imo) the best structured comp in the uk - how can you say no?!?

I will do a full report next week.

In the meantime, I have entered two £100 comps, both crashing out before the money, but playing cash on those two occasions, I have netted a cool £2k+ profit! I have only been playing £3 £3 and £2 $4 as well. Long may that continue!!

Until next week………..

The clock is a slow one at 45 min levels and most levels included. You do however start at 50 100 - but with 30k chips it really isnt a problem! lol

I have final tabled 3 times in this comp so far (been running about a year i think) and usually gets between 60-100 runners.

So, onto this weeks comp. Slightly low turnout but with Vegas it was to be expected. It only just made the guarantee giving £7k for 1st.

My day one started off slow ending with 30250 at the first break. The rest of the day was somewhat slow and I ended up with 58k at end of day one with 22 left. Absolutely no hands and basically was stealing my way along.

Day 2 started and after the table redraw I had the chipleader two to my left - not a good move but I had played with him all day yesterday and had a good feel for his game - he was ultra aggressive and liked to “just over min raise” your bets on any street. Anyway, I started quite well restealing from the chip leader in a couple of pots and was soon on 130k. Blinds at this stage were 1000 2000 with a 200ante so plenty of play.
We were down to 13 or so quite quickly but then the short stacks started to double up and we did not hit final table until 4 levels later! This unfortunately made the final somewhat of a crapshoot. Av stack had something like 12 BB’s.
I picked up a few hands early on and climbed to 200k.
With the comp now running crapshooty (unusual for this comp tbh) I found that my recent month of playing turbo SnG’s on Stars a real help - I was taking advantage of Stars kind offer to UK players where they basically gave away Supernova status! - I missed it by 2 hours of play but thats another story!
So, down to 5 and it was shove poker. Then we are 4. I am shoving once a round to stay in with a shout and my final hand was As5s and with 175k (blinds now 15k 30k) I get a call from 55. The flop was very kind of Qh 2s 3s. So now I am favorite here with 15 outs twice but I fail to hit and finish 4th for £2k.
Not a bad weekends work and another final table but only picking up £2k from the £16.5k for top 4 was a little disapointing.
I do not think I am playing next weekend, but the weekend after is the £300 2 dayer at DTD - another one of my regular comps………………….