A POKER DIARY, BY GRAEME MORL AGED 28 1/2
Monday 24th March
Set off from Newcastle International with my bags packed, my head full of hope and my mate Gary for company for 8 nights in the new party capital of europe Prague. We get there and by god its freezing, thats the last time i ever complain about the weather in Newcastle, -3 and its only 9pm!! We get checked into our hotel which is suprisingly decent and head off to meet the others from the Punters Lounge for a few beers, Pilsner Urquell.....lovely!
Tuesday 25th March
Its 3pm, we have just surfaced from our slumber and its time to get sorted for the 1st event, the €110 NLHE at the Spearmint Casino in Prague, which has been taken over for the week by VC poker. On arrival we are swiftly checked in and shown through into a nice upmarket but small casino, were given a glass of champagne, some nibbles and then we notice how many tables there are.....6! Before travelling to Prague, we were promised between 60 and 100 runners for the events, now we find its a maximum of 54 per event, which leaves the people who have travelled hundreds of miles a little bemused, the prizepools back home are more inviting than this!
The event starts and were all sitting nicely at the 1st break, then disaster hits us, 5 out of the 6 of us out before the final 2 tables. I had the best finish from the PL crew in 19th, when my K10 offsuit was destroyed by J10 offsuit, flop brings Q92 rainbow, the turn is 3 hearts and then the sucker punch, anything but a K or an 8 im praying, sods law has it and my King pairs the board, giving him the strait, nightmare end to a good days poker. We still have 1 player left tho, Amy Young, yes thats right, the Editors Mrs..........shes destroying all comers, taking down big pots and lands on the final table! Whoooo Hoooo we have a casher at last as Amy finishes 6th winning around £180 and the bragging rights in the Young household for months to come haha.
Wednesday 26th March
Today sees a step up in class, the €275 freezeout which brought a number of new faces into the casino, amongst others Dan Carter (UK Pro and recently 12th in EPT Dortmund) and even he cant beleive the event is 54 max!
Once again the poker starts and were having a good go at this one, 2 tables left and still 2 of us in, Ross Wakenshaw and Myself, we have a chance! I get a slice of luck when my 10's hold up against A9o to eliminate a player and im back in the hunt after being shortstack for quite some time, theres now 10 left and its looking good for a Brit to cash!
Im sat with 22k, Ross is sat with 25k and were in the top 6 chip wise, playing great poker, my reads are perfect and its all looking rosey! Thats until lady luck decides that the Brits aint getting anything, Im the next one out when my sweet all in from the SB with AJo gets called for 12xBB by a player with A8 clubs, im openly smiling and hoping for yet another hold up by the better hand but alas its not to be, two clubs on the flop, one on the turn and my dream is ended, Im sat there bemused, almost motionless, I cant beleive a guy with almost the same amount of chips has called me with that, gutting to say the least. I know my time is up when i hear from the rafters, Morls, you donk!
Ross follows next, with what can only be called the worst play of the tourney, the other table is now being broken and moved across for the start of the Final Table, so Ross sitting in good position pushes all in for 25k with pocket 2's hoping for a blinds steal of 4500 and give him almost 30k for the final 9. Its all looking good, fold, fold fold, etc until the BB, not wanting to give up 3000 chips calls, we wait in hope that its a race, we were right, then our jaws dropped in sheer disbeleif, the call was made with 10 8 offsuit, everyone is looking at each other with wry smiles, hoping that the 22 holds up, it dosen't and a very annoyed Ross has fallen in 9th. We do our best to console him, but what can you say. Alcohol helps a little and we all go out on the town knowing we have a day off tomorrow.
Thursday 27th March
Today sees the $25k student poker/vc qualifier championships, which one of our mates Dan Sims has qualified for after winning a seat via the online satellites. We let him play and concentrate on his own and we hit the town. Its just before midnight and I get a text, "morls, im on final table" . Well we couldnt miss this could we, so like drunken lunatics we race across prague to the casino to catch his final hand, will we get any luck this week? Dan pushes all in and is called instantly, the cards are on their backs and we see Dan punch the air, get in......he has AK vs AQ, what a great chance!!! The flop then sticks 2 fingers up to Dan by putting a Queen on the board and thats it, another good performance shot down in flames by lady luck herself.
Friday 28th March
This is the big one, the $550 main event, my mate Gary has flown home, im on my own and im listening to some tunes on my Ipod, im in the zone, I cant feel any better than I do about my game than I do right now and im hoping that some luck will grace me and I can take home some cash from the week. However, its not meant to be, im sat in the SB with JJ and make a 3xbb raise, 2 callers, the flop is a dream 10 high and as im first to act i fire out a pot sized 2k bet, hoping to take it down there and then, nope, 1 caller and I put him on AK or A10 instantly, a 7 on the turn keeps me thinking im ahead, and i make a massive bet 4500 which was my downfall, he then comes over the top and announces all in, I look down and see that I only have 2k left from my original 10k and have to call. He flips over QQ and im done for, i shake everyones hands, wish them luck and procede upstairs to the bar where i make use of the free beer.
The rest of the PL guys drop over the space of the next 3 hours until we have 1 left, Joe Geraghty, who has been on the drink all night and all day, is steaming and playing poker perfectly (we have no idea how either!) He gets to the final 4 and with the astronomical blinds compared to stacks , he pushes with A5 and get caled by AK and QQ, flop comes 5 8 A K 7, and Joe has gone, excellent perfomance and £3600 better off! Not only that, his performance in this event also places him 3rd in the leaderboard for another £1000, not bad at all!
I wanna end this by saying thanks to all the guys n gals we went over to prague with, your all cracking people and i couldnt have had a better time with anyone else. Good luck to you all and may lady luck smile on us all next time!
Morls
No comments:
Post a Comment