Friday, June 13, 2008

SE €1k main Event - Day 2

I started day 2 well below average on about 11k. I had thought about my strategy for today and decided that i wouldn't do anything too radical as the blinds were still very low compared to my stack and with the 90min clock I felt I had a lot of time to find th eright time to make some moves.

The table was still tough and a dutch pro on my right was making it very hard for me to see flops without some kind of hand. After about an hour of him raising every pot I decided that i would catch him out at some point.

A few pots come and go and I am going backwards. No of my raises etc are getting through and I feel that i am bleeding too many chips. I am down to 6.5k. However, a small run of cards, and a few bold continuation bets bring me back to 12.5k approx.

Liam Flood was being very actived and sucked out on Mellor's AA with a J7 - I hadn't played too much with Liam but I recognised him as being a good way of getting back into the game.

I then got KQ in the small blind and decided to complete. Liam makes a small raise and I call - everyone else out. Flop come a juicy KQx and I check it. Liam leads out and I think for a small while and then call. Liam rechecks his cards and I know he's hit the flop somewhat. Another K on the turn gives me the nuts and I check it again. Liam leads out again and I instantly shove,Liam calls with K10 and I double up to about 25k.

A few hands later I get Jh9h in the big blind and the dutch guy raises it up again. I decide that my hand is would a shot as it disguises a lot of hands well. 10 Q 8 comes down and I could not have asked for a better flop and I felt that my timing had came to the game with me for a change.

The dutch guy leads out as expected and I flat call. the turn is a blank and he checks, I bet out 8k and he snap calls. The river is an Ace and he shoves for about 15k. Now all that is going through my head is that he has KJ - very possible, but I cant get away from it now. I call and he shows AK. He's out and I am now up to about 48k and very much in the game.

After lunch I pick up AsKs and raise it up - 1 caller directly to my right (Btn) - same seat as the dutch guy. Flop come down Axx with two spades. I check and he leads out, I call - I put him on an Ace and I want him to put me on the draw or maybe a weaker Ace. The turn is a non spade and I check-raise, he calls. The river is a spade and I check. Not too sure why i do this as it goes against everything I have set up to this point. he checks behind with AQ and I loose a bit of value. he say he wouldn't have called a bet anyway but I think he would have had no choice.

Now I am chip leader with about 75k a mere few hours after being close to the felt.

My confidence is growing and I am playing a bit better. I loose two significant pots that set me back. The first I shoved on a 10 8 6 Q board after the villian had bet the flop. I had Kh7h with 2 hearts on board. I have him covered and he thinks for ages only to call with a 10 and it holds up.

The second one is where I mis-raise with KK after leaving chips behind. Darragh O'Kearney and Muldoon call and the flop comes down something like 458 - darragh bets and Muldoon re-raises to 8k. Here I make the worst move of the day and just call. Dont know why i didn't shove but my mistake of not raising pre-flop enough was on my mind. Darragh fold and Muldoon shoves for 20k on turned Ace. I had to fold and he shows 86.

My exit hand came when I pushed over a raise from Keith McFadden with QQ and he found a call with QhJh and rivered a flush to send me packing.

Overall I was vey happy with my play and 10th isn't that bad in such a high class field. Felt I could have done better.

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