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Aces and Agony - An APAT'ers blog of the highs and lows of poker ( and life!)

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amcgrath1uk:
PLO day on Saturday, and was totally looking forward to this one, charity last longer with Stuart Ward, so it was obvious what was coming with the table draw

   Stuart         Ward         12         1   
   Cody         Wagner         12         2   
   Paul         Jackson         12         3   
   Santo         Toscano         12         4   
   Marco         Maas         12         5   
   Asa         Mcgrath         12         6   
   Dawn         Cooke         12         7   
   Linda         Iwaniak         12         8   
   Alvaro         Dossantoscarvalho         12         9

Generally keep myself out of trouble, and at the 500/1k level, have 28k. Play pretty much standard PLO, raising in the right spots, and somehow find myself on the final table bubble with about 180k, exploit this as much as possible, so that when the bubble bursts, I'm on 235k and sitting 4/9 overnight. Final table was:

   McGrath     Asa         1         235,500   
   Payan         Elie         2         327,000   
   Davis         Paul         3         211,500   
   Lao         Cheok         4         341,500   
   Tyler         Dave         5         273,000   
   Porter         Mark         6         108,000   
   Parkhomenko         Stanislav         7         145,500   
   Clerbaut         Tom         8         129,000   
   Wiemker         Christian         9         29,000   

Final table starts quietly, but I lose about 80k in the first 2 orbits before gaining some back. It takes over an hour to bust one player! Another 45 mins to bust 2 more. At this stage, blinds were getting high, and the 3 shorter stacks, of which I was on, was going to be a case of double up or bust. Cheok and Dave between them were running over the table, but quite quietly, Paulie had accumulated a ton of chips. Cheok or Dave are raising every hand by this point, and on my bb, Cheok raises. I look down at JJ65 take a couple of minutes thinking it through, and decide it's well worth it. Cheok has Q1074, so I'm therefore pretty happy. Flop comes down 4 7 10 which gives Cheok 2 pair, and I don't improve. So a 6th place to add to the double 1sts, happy obviously so far.. One event to come, the Crazy Pineapple!

amcgrath1uk:
The last day, and we're on to Crazy Pineapple. Last event of the week and it was a case of let's have some enjoyment! Have a laugh with the table I'm on, and what happens, happens.

When my first table splits, I have maybe 16k, manage to get a double up or 2, and we're suddenly playing hand for hand.

There's a player all in for less than a bb on my table, Ian and myself check it to the river, where I have to bet in last position having flopped 2 pair and turning the full house.

We get to a final table:

Seat 1: Brian Beekers - 120k
Seat 2: Maike Tigchelaar - 59k
Seat 3: Asa McGrath - 102k
Seat 4: Robert Dove - 37k
Seat 5: Danny Op 't Hof - 126k
Seat 6: Ian Thompson - 48k
Seat 7: Shruti Shete - 41k
Seat 8: Maarten Kok - 165k

With 6 left, I get dealt QQx and are all in pre, with both Ian and Danny. Happy that the flop comes KQ9, especially seeing Danny have AK, and Ian with AJ. Ian get there on the river but I still manage to win a significant pot. Couple of hands later, Danny is all in after I've raised, I auto call. Flop AQQ, sitting with A9 I'm fairly happy until Danny turns over AQ! Danny 3 hands later has the chip lead and raises again, I have JJ5 on my bb and call, flop is J64, he shoves I obviously call, and I beat his AA.

A few hands later, Danny raises all in and again it's an auto call. Flop is  Qc 10c 6c and I pretty much am playing my pocket pair under, which is  2c 2s, Danny has  7s 5c and I hold.

Another medal bubble! Manage to win a good pot slow playing a nut flush, and there's a double up for Ian who was short stacked. About 10 mins later, I raise Ian's bb and he shoves. I take a while but call. Flop is  4h 3c 4c and I take a while, I'm holding Q77 with 2 clubs, decide Ian has probably got an overpair and go with the flush draw. He turns over AJ, and I get there straight away, so into another medal battle!!

3 handed I have 350k with the others having that between them. Brian eventually busts Maarten after a cagey few rounds and HU for another bracelet!

Lose a big hand early on where my K7 on a AK7 board is battered by his A7. Chop a pot all in where I threw my pair to chase a flush, but the board played whichever way I went. Managed to work my way into a chip lead again, when we had another all in. I held K7 on a K78 all hearts, Brian had  Ah Ac and hit the flush on the turn. Managed to double back up with Ace high vs K hi and again take the chip lead. We get it in all in pre again,  Ks 6d 5s flop, Brian holds  Js 10s to my 10 10 and turns the flush again. Down to less than 100k again, all in with the flop A 2 3, I hold K 3, and Brian J 10, board runs out K ( yay) and then Q to give Brian the straight and the win.

Annoying way for the board to run out obviously, but no complaints from me. 2 wins, 2 bracelets, a 2nd and a 6th in the week. Coming into the week, I was hoping for one final table, and maybe even a medal, but what happened was beyond any expectations.

It also meant, that after the online series, I ended up being Player of the Series, gaining a main event and 2 side entries for free to next seasons Worlds.

The whole experience has only started to hit me in the last couple of days. Winning 2 in a day has never been done before. Running as well as I obviously have done also massively helped. I just remember, going into the final table of the 8 game, thinking 2 things. One was I'm going to bloody enjoy myself no matter what happens. The second was thinking back a few years, to when Chris Moormans father, Simon, won the GUKPT in Manchester, where I railed with Chris for the whole final table. I knew that Simon had never played big poker events before, but he looked totally at ease with himself and the situation he found himself in. So I told myself, chill, be yourself and try and portray that image. Seemed to work!

pables:
Nice read mate and well played 👍👍

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