Who's The Daddy???

ME of course!

Back on track big time today. I thought I'd watch the football on sky sports news with my feet up today whilst playing a bit of poker. So I entered a $10 NL tournament on PP. The tourney totalled 650 entrants and I won for a pick up of $1430. VERY NICE.

Took a little over 5 hours. I managed to get to the final table as the short stack - about 25K. There were a couple of other small stacks and I waited until a few had shot their bolt. I was lying in 7th place with a prize of $260. Now I thought I'd make my move. I copped for pocket K's and doubled up. From that point I raised with any reasonable holding as long as the pot hadn't been opened and this stole a few reasonable pots. I was up and down but played well to get down to the last 3. This stage was very tight and again an aggressive approach was paying well with the other 2 paying a lot of respect to my raises. I think this happened because they'd seen me make a few moves and take 3 out on the final table. Good for me.

The other 2 at this point seemed quiet solid players. The play was tight and the hand which put me in the driving seat was 10 4 off suit. I was big blind and no one raised to allow me to limp in. The flop came 10 7 4. I bet 10K - the minimum - and the 1 guy playing me raised big to 50K. I expected this as he'd come over the top a couple of times when I was in marginal positions and betting to find where I stand.

His raise put a smile on my face. He was a bigger stack than me by about 60K at this point, so I raised to 90K hoping he'd put me all-in. He did this exactly as I expected. I know I could be beat at this point but I thought this was an excellent and favourable situation for me. I pushed all my chips in and he turned 7 K. The flop missed him - DING DANG DOO!!

I was now sitting on 400K and took the small stack out 2 hands later when I pulled 2 pair on the river Q 8's against his hole QJ.

Heads up - I'm on 450K and the other geezer is on 200K. I took a few blinds off him and then hit him hard when he limped in on the SB and I had A 9 suited in the hole. The flop came 9 5 4. I put a bet out and he rasied. I come over the top and he called. Next card didn't help him as he bet out and I put a raise again on him again which lead him to fold leaving him on 50K against my monster stack of 600K. I took him for pairing the 5 or the 4 and I think I was right.

Now I got you sucker I thought. He kept throwing his chips in and if I had a picture I called. He doubled up twice on the trot to put him on 200K. I thought he was just going for a coin toss, which I didn't mind at the time as it was $975 or $1430 for us. Third time he done it I had K 5 suited. I called and he had Q 9. I was happy with this especially as my 5 paired the board and stood up for a well earned victory!!

Very good game all-in-all. I took a couple of chances through the tournament and my boldness was rewarded. At one point about 2 hours in I was down to 825 but some bold poker got me back up and in business. I was struggling at some points and laid some potential winning hands down if the cost to see was prohibitive to my tournament life. When I was within striking distance of the money (paid 70th and up) I tightened right up so that I could get into the money. Once in the money I loosened up a little and started playing aggressive poker - playing my good hands with some weight behind them. Only picked up a couple though, but generally got paid off well when I entered a pot.

The key to this game was PATIENCE and I was extremely patient at times whilst waiting for the right situation to appear. When the tables seemed to tighten up I played more aggresively and pulled a nice couple of all-in bluffs with low or middle pair along the way. As for all the all-in maniacs along the way - you know the type - I only go all-in on my terms and not theirs. I laid down some probable winners against these butt munchers along the way and also took a few of them out knowing that they'd overplay a loser when I was strong - this made me a few chips.

To sum up - an excellent performace if I say so myself!! Played a blinder and made my game pay when it mattered most throughout the tourament.

Footbal results didn't go too bad either!! We're yet to play and Sunderland lost - which means we can't be bottom of the league.

Right - off to spunk $8 of my winnings on a few cans of Stella Artois to celebrate!!