PKR Live 3

It's been over a week now since PKR Live 3, and after spending far too much time trying to log the weekend in the format of a poem (not actually what i intended, it just kind of happened), I've finally got round to collecting my thoughts together and blogging my experience properly, in one MASSIVE post, you have been warned.

Friday

I flew down to London City Airport on Friday with my girlfriend, having now experienced most of the "London" airports, I would strongly recommend that everyone uses City airport whenever possible, not only is it closest to the city, you know, actually being in London unlike the others, but it is very simple, straightforward to navigate and pleasant, which is what I want from an airport, best experience of a London airport ever, so far so good! Club Quarters was one of the most touted hotels on the PKR forums, so that's where we'd booked, and bar the strange check-in machine procedure, everything was to a good enough standard, as you'd expect really. After a scout around we found an Indian restaurant round the corner, which was also standardly good.

By the time we arrived at the Kingpin Suite for the PKR Party it was well after 9pm, I thought it would probably have taken a bit of time to get going, so I wasn't too fussed about being there early but I hadn't really been aware of all the pre-party meet-ups and drinking that led to things being in full swing from the get go. Despite what people might think, I'm quite a shy guy and find these situations a bit awkward, I don't like imposing myself of new people and most of the people I recognised were people I've never even spoken to online, like the PKR Pros, who I've never even met at the tables. Luckily Modge was there, top company as ever, and I briefly met a few more of the PKR folk as the night went on, including the famous Tigerrr, but I don't think I really got in to it and never really relaxed. We were fairly abruptly asked to leave by the Kingpin staff as midnight approached, so i made my goodbyes and a few hellos to ChivalrousGent and Jaywhat on the way out before we headed back to the hotel to get rested for the big day ahead of me.

Saturday

After struggling to find somewhere (other than the pub) selling breakfast, I headed down to the Loose Cannon club , this was it! PKR LIVE!!! The bar was surprisingly busy with people drinking already, you wouldn't really have thought there was a big buy-in event in the offing, I chose to abstain from the alcohol until my poker was done for the day.

Myself, Modge and JJbird22 were chatting away when we became aware of Ashley Hames and a camera crew interviewing players in the room. "It's ok", I thought, "he's with ChivalrousGent, we're nobodies, we'll be spared, we'll be fine". Unfortunately, I've learned that no-one's a nobody at PKR, and Ashley interviews the three of us one by one. While Chiv had been getting interviewed we had been giving it the big talk about the funny things we'd say, but when the camera was turned on us, that bravado quickly evaporated and none of us had anything particularly interesting to say beyond a “folding to victory” strategy. I don't know about the other guys but I was certainly taken aback by being interviewed, never done it before, and while frantically trying to think of something sensible to say while Ashley asked bizarre questions like "why did you come to PKR Live?" I couldn't help be overly aware of Ashley and his microphone invading my personal space, you can even see my straining to get away during the video.

Having survived that ordeal, it was time for some poker! I had done a bit of research on my main event starting table opponents, as I figured i'd be with them a while. 

To my immediate left is EspenKR, who I played in the 'The Big Shot' and I felt he was the most dangerous player in that tournament, to his left Kingkai84, a PKR Pro, who's got some impressive WSOP results, great. Well i've not really heard of the others, hopefully they're a bit softer...

No.

Some spying via PKR and Sharkscope reveals amongst the others there's one of PKR's Top 100 ranked SNG players, a top 150 ranked MTT player, and three players with winnings over £15,000! Brilliant. As far as I can see from Sharkscope, there's not a losing player amongst us.

Should be a breeze...

Anyways, to the Main Event action... well, I say action, not much happened, for a very long time. Everyone was fairly tight, and while I could overhear other tables shrieking as aces clashed with kings, set vs set, full house over full house, the most I saw anyone shown at our table was top pair. With the exception of the friendly BigMuff, who offered the table sweets and lollipops, the table was a fairly stern serious affair. The lack of action was beginning to worry me too, as long as the chip stacks at our table maintained the status quo, other tables’ players would be their building stacks. I think it was 4 hours before we lost our first player, a man in a Hawaiian shirt briefly joined us before being moved again. So after more than 6 hours of poker I was up from 10k to 12k by the dinner break, and somewhat surprised to hear that was still an average stack!

I was beginning to enjoy myself a bit more by now, each break from the tables was an opportunity to meet new people, the tournament gave everyone something to talk about, "are you still in?" or "how's your stack" or "you should have what happened!". I was beginning to feel the now famous PKR Live vibe. I  was hoping our table would get broken up, and I got my wish soon after the dinner break, but be careful what you wish for.

I didn't recognise much of my new table, so I decided to sit back a bit, see who was doing what at the table, and soon discovered the bigstack two to my right was controlling the table, opening every other hand with a raise, it was PirateNation, a recognized PKR “name”. I was fairly card dead, and my decreasing stack compared to his ever increasing stack would make it difficult to play back at him. So chose to wait and pick my spots. ScottyStarburst (big cash game player, I believe) sat down to my left, and PKR Pro callmebabe joined the table not that long after. They approached the table with a totally different attitude to mine, it may have helped that they had fairly healthy stacks, but it became obvious that there was a battle between Pirate, Scotty and callmebabe for dominance over the table, while myself and fellow "shortstack warrior" Panolis were fighting more for survival rather than chip accumulation.

At one point callmebabe opened for a standard raise, Pirate called, folds to me and I look down at pocket 4s. Goddamn. Calling would cost me about a third of my stack, I didn’t think I could really afford to make the call hoping to flop a set, and then fold if I missed. So I’m either all in or folding. I thought about shoving, but considering my stack size, and my opponents stack sizes, I was pretty sure I’d be getting called in two places, so I’d either have to dodge quite a few cards, or hit that miracle 4 again. If I had had more chips, I could have afforded either a squeezeplay or the chance to see a flop, had I had less chips, it would probably been worth a gamble, as it was, I folded.

Flop comes King, King, FOUR! .....AAAARRRGGHH!! If only I’d been more reckless! I could have tripled up there! Although from what I've heard since, callmebabe and PirateNation has pocket Jacks and pocket 9s, respectively, so the fold was technically ccorrect I suppose, but it weighed on my mind as I  carried on shortstacked.

I kept my friends updated with my progress, but i'm pretty sure all they got for 4 hours was "still in but shortstacked" until down to the last 4 tables, I found pocket 10s, open shoved for about 7 or 8 big blinds, only for ScottyStarburst to insta-shove over the top. Didn't look good, looked worse when he turned over Kings, and with no help on the board I was out, 36th out of 136ish runners. Damn. 16 short of the money. Double damn.

I didn't really mind going out like I did, the hand played itself, no-one was at fault, no evil suckout or anything but it still leaves you feeling kinda empty. oh well, TO THE BAR! As I looked around I didn't really see anyone to talk to, most people who had been knocked out the main event seemed to be sitting at a cash game or sit and go. I headed to the door, the only place I could get a signal for my phone, to let my friends know the bad news. Seeing no-one was around, I began contemplating heading back to the hotel, when Jaywhat, rushing about asked me "you play omaha?". Yes I do indeed, and I was whisked off for a £10 no-limit omaha SNG with some of the omaha regulars like Jay and Prinny as well some aggro donks like Jabba! Unfortunetly, after an initial misdeal, I went out in the first hand! Prinny was trying to bully Jabba, and I inadvertently threw myself in the way. In my defence I did have the best hand when I called the all in, but Prinny had a massive drawing hand, which she hit. I think I was still reeling from my main event dissapointment and hadn't really got my head sorted, so made an unnessary call. It was a real shame because it meant I didn't get a chance to get to chat and have fun with the guys and girls at the table. Still, my experience of the PKR Live community spirit was picking up, and after Modge "coerced" me into another trip to the bar, I really began enjoying myself. Gone was the pressures of the main event looming over me, I got chatting with a whole bunch more PKR peeps, including xstudaholicx, Mrj1220, GazTheYorkie, Fifthsuit, vd12345 and japete. Mostly, I found myself drinking and railing the main event as it drew closer to the bubble. 

The unfortunate bubble boy was LockeLamora, who speaking to him the next day, took it all very well, and to his credit, seemed more concerned with his cash game performance than the main event bubble. I'm glad I went out when I did, if I wasn't going to cash, I'd rather not come SO close, and an earlier exit meant more time for drinking, umm, I mean socialising!

Sunday

After breakfast/lunch with my girlfriend, she headed out for a day of culture, with planned visits to the design museum and the Tate, while I headed back to the Loose Cannon for another day of drinking and gambling in a windowless room.

As the final 2 tables of the main event were set up and filled, an air of anticiaption filled the hall as they were railed on all 4 sides by an eager crowd. But after a while the railbirds all dissapeared as we took our seats for the $200 Bounty Tournament. my experience in the main event had taught me that you really want to just take control of the table when you can, and that's what I did. Without being invloved in any huge pots, in two hours I had built my stack up from the starting 6k, to 18k, nice. Despite having some very good players at my table, Trymean, callmebabe and later on, Eurootje, I really did seem to be in control, taking down pots with 3rd pair and the like on occasion. And then, out of nowhere, i suffered from complete and utter brainfuck.

In a totally insane moment, iI ost 6k in one hand, against PKR_Erika, the table's bounty. So here's the background to the hand: as far as I can work out Erika knows how to play poker but isn't a poker player. She was the ultimate rockiest of nitty players. Her raising range lies between pocket aces and pocket queens. In the two hours it had taken me to build my stack, she had played 2 hands. pocket queens once, and after tanking for ages, called an all in from the big blind for about 2 big blinds more with ace queen, that was about it. There has never been a tighter player at the table, but you can do what I done, and IGNORE ALL OF THAT. Despite being well aware of all of that information, I instead had decided to focus on a few other things; 

1. Erika has a $200 bounty on her head, along with a big fancy PKR chipset for knocking her out 
2. I've got a bigstack, 3 times Erika's stack 
3. I can outplay Erika
4. The PKR team still had many other jobs to do so most of them were keen to bust out early, and seeing as Erika had left the table a number of times to sort out various issues, I had her pegged as one of these people, despite her tight play so far.

So this is the best account of why I done what I done, although at no point do I really agree with any of my "thought process" in hindsight. With Erika in the blinds, I decided that limping in with Q3 was a fine play. If I hit the flop hard, it should be disguised and maybe I can bust her if she's also strong. Kingkai has joined the table, and limped too, before Erika raised it up, and with Kingkai calling, I figure it's still worth a pop to try and bust her, despite my holdings. Flop is something like 7, 4, Jack. Erika bets out a third of her stack, Kai gets out the way. Ignoring her Aces, Kings or Queens range, I decide that she could well have Ace Jack or be on a bluff, imagining there could be some random Team PKR sidebet like winning with 72off or some other imaginary reason to call. Figuring I can win if I hit my queen, I make the call. The turn is another blank, Erika bets out the same again, leaving only a small pile of chips behind her. I figure if I called on the flop, I have to call now, because nothing has changed and I don't actually want to push her off her hand, I want to call her down because that's the only way to get her bounty, the river is another blank, and Erika reluctantly goes all in. I’m now faced with something like 10 to 1 pot odds. I only have queen high, but I didn't call all that way to fold to piddly bet on the river did I? I assume I've lost, but just incase it was some mad bluff, I have to call and see what she has... pocket Queens. Well played Mack!

I think I played every single part of that hand totally wrong, right down to showing my cards at the end. I called her, she showed pocket Queens, I should have folded, pretending I had Jack-something and saved face, but no, I flipped over my Queen 3 for the whole table to see what an idiot I am. The table was quite rightly astounded, and so they should be, it was shocking, and my only real explanation is that my brain went into meltdown as I was blinded by the chance of the bounty scalp. Utterly bonkers. Note to self, in future, ignore the bounty.

The very next hand I was involved in another big pot, this time with a fullhouse though, and although I had to spilt the pot in the end, it at least helped establish I wasn't a total moron. I got to put my Q3 shame behind me when I got moved to another table, where no-one knew I was a total muppet, well not for a while anyways.

At my new table I played fairly ABC, the action before it got round to me generally dictated my play until, sitting in the small blind, it folded round to the button, who stuck in a standard raise. From what I'd seen of his play, he was a decent player, and as such was surely at it, stealing the blinds, "not this time matey!" I thought, reraising all in with king queen. "he won't be so quick to steal my blinds in future" I thought as the big blind got out the way, INSTA-CALL BY THE BUTTON! as he tables pocket Kings. Damn.

But Kings couldn''t finish me off this time! I rather expertly flopped a gutshot straight draw, and even more skillfully hit my straight on the turn, WOOO!!! Although a bit sheepish in front of my opponent, I’m quietly dancing inside. The poker gods have looked favourably on me and my lucky double up has more than made up for my earlier disaster against PKR_Erika. It doesn't seem like long before we're down to two tables and 18 players, with the top 15 being paid.

My table was broken up and I find the new one with a few familiar faces, Kingkai (him again) and BigMuff from my main event starting table. Myself and BigMuff were the shortstacks at the table, but we weren't quite in the danger zone yet, so I was quietly hoping some of the bigger stacks would clash so I could sail into the money. The table seemed quite tight, mostly maintaining the staus quo, until xxSolxx clashed with vale82 (I think), then there was an all in at our table at the same time as a 3 way all in on the other table! Chaos broke out! 3 players were eliminated! Or were they? Who knows??!! There was frantic to-ing and fro-ing from the tournament director as he tried to establish who went out, when they went out, what were their chipstacks before the all in? Seeing as the T.D. was trying to work it all out, I assume one of them might have cashed, dunno. What we did finally know though was... WE WERE IN THE MONEY!! YAAASSSS!!!

Once again iI ound myself card dead and shortstacked, so when I looked down and saw Queen Ten, it seemed like a prime opportunity to steal some blinds or race for a bigger stack, I could have done without Caban calling me with King 10... until I saw the Queen on the turn! BACK IN THE GAME! and I really was back in the game, I opened up with and no-one seemed to want to fight back, nice, build that stack Mack! A few more eliminations and my eye was firmly on the final table, and being in a good position when I got there.

I had heard some jokey comments on the forums, saying KingKai was a nit and now I know why! He's been fairly quiet at the table, and was nursing a shortstack for a long time picking his spots to pick up bblinds. He moved all in, and I looked at pocket Jacks, despite Kai's nitty reputation, I didn't really get the impression he was exuding strength, so I reraised to isolate, and turns out I was raising Kingkai's King Queen. I lost, and seemingly had either overestimated my stack, or underestimated his, because I was left with a lot less chips than I had calculated. Not long after, I found Ace 6 in the cutoff and shove, folds round to vale82 in the big blind, who spends a long time thinking before making the call and asking "you don't have an ace do you?" I was happy to report I was dominating vale's Ace 5, happy until the river card 5... balls. Ah well, handshakes all round, they've all made it do the final table and are happy, and twice I've sucked out to survive, so I can't complain. 11th place, out of about 116 players, not too bad I guess.

Much to my girlfriend's dismay, I’m never really happy unless I finish first. But taking a step back, looking at the bigger picture, I satellited in for around $150 in total, won a $1700 package, which got me a paid trip to London, where I finished 36th out of 136 in the $1000 main event and 11th in the $200 bounty tourney for $385. I suppose that's quite good. Infact, I'm sure it is.

I was a bit miffed that the main event champion was crowned while the bounty tournament was approaching the bubble, it distracted from the poker a bit, while the poker distracted from the main event celebrations, give us a break next time! I was really glad to hear vd12345 had taken down the title, I'd only met him breifly during the day but he seemed like a really nice guy and I never heard anything but praise about him. Bizarrely, I never encountered the bounty tournament winner, KarltheKiller, not even at the table, despite making the last 11, but from what I hear he's also good guy, and reading his PKR Live blog was certainly amusing.

I would have liked to had more of a chat with a few more of the players but I always seemed to be rushing off somewhere, and never really got the chance. But all in all PKR Live was AWESOME! I'll be doing everything in my power to make it to the next one, and this time I'll hit the ground running rather than easing myself in like I did this time.

BRING ON THE NEXT PKR LIVE!