Ariston - Betfair Forum Game

Friday PM – Early Action

It was only a 50 Sit ’n’ Go and after we agreed the payout structure, we all got 1000 chips. Starting blinds of 25/50 and a 15 minute clock - this was going to be quick. I think I must have been the only one on the table to realise just how quick this structure was so when it was passed round to me on the button I obviously raised. This happened for the next 3 hands before I got called by the nun on the BB (I had J2 suited). A flop of 782 was checked to me so I obviously bet and she called, whoops. The turn brought a lovely Jack, she checked and I went all-in, then she folded.

The next hand Ben limped under the gun and I raised with a pair of tens and the BB and Ben both called. The flop came QT2 with 2 diamonds and although I told him not too, Ben led at the pot - I went all in. His QK was no match and Ben became the first casualty of the weekend. I now had a monster chip lead and raised probably 70% of the hands, player after player fell to my rags and pretty sure Ruru was in danger of having to play a hand. I have played a lot over the years but I don't think I have ever met anybody as tight as Ruru. He even tried to pass his big blind when nobody had raised before him. Ruru fell onto my Q4 and when we got 3 handed Pennick went all in on my big blind after I had warned him not too. My 22 wasn’t really a hand I liked but he had used his warning so I called. 22 v K4 and the race you would expect - 1st card, 4 and the river brought a lovely 2, nice. Before we started heads up I offered the other guy 150 in a chop and he said "but its only another 50", my reply "50 more than you will get if we play on" - this may seem arrogant but I was bouncing cards off the ceiling and I had a huge chip lead. He asked for 160 and we shook hands. That ended the poker for the evening so we then focused our attention to socialising and drinking.

Friday PM – Putting Faces to Aliases

In the bar were three very worse for wear looking individuals going by the names of dpommo, Hawko and the pineapple head himself, Dubai - Team Total Poker. The heads up duel was arranged for 12 o’clock the next day as they were in no fit state to play now. It was good to put faces to many names from the forum and it was nice to find that poker queen, weed and zelda were all in fact female and very attractive (not being sexist here I just think poker needs more good looking women, there are enough good looking men like me, pennick and Mandylou ;-) ). After meeting Mandylou in Blackpool I will never assume anything about players’ names online! Kpnuts had made his way over from Ireland and we have history - he was at the Party in Vegas in which a few of us left to go and get robbed elsewhere. It was very good of KP to remind me of this every time I got chatting to any woman in the room- "what exactly happened at the brothel in Vegas Russ?" very funny KP I will get my revenge at some stage this year I promise. Plenty of drinking was done but I headed off around midnight so I would be fresh for the heads up match - Team Total Poker were not going to beat me.

Satuarday AM - Nursing Hangovers…

Midday at the Gutshot and I'm sat with a full breakfast, a deck of cards and chips waiting for TTP…. 12.30pm still waiting…. 1.00pm agree to play Ben Fried in a heads up as it now appeared obvious that they were not coming, I had myself ready to play the three of them and wasn’t ready to play Ben. I assumed his play would be of a certain style/standard and I assumed wrong - he didn't just beat me, he destroyed me!! Not a good start to the day.

Saturday - The Main Event

The main event started a little late but I didn't really know anyone on my table apart from Norwich. Most of the players won’t be used to a 10k starting stack but the key thing is the fact it was a 30 minute clock. I would not be hanging around waiting for big hands I would be attacking from the very first hand. The talk around the room seemed to advocate playing slowly early on, if everyone is going to be playing slowly then I would do the opposite.

My tournament started well when I played A3 on the button to a raise, the BB re-raised and I called with position. The flop of AQ2 didn't look to bad but he led out so I re-raised to define my hand, he flat called. I would've passed to a re-raise there, obviously my re-raise was for information purposes. The turn brought another ace and he bet and I called. The river blanked off and I again called (there is no point in re-raising as he can only call with a hand that beats my set). He flips tens over and I’m up to 14k after one hand. I raised and danced in a few more pots and took a few pots away with bluffs and was up to 20kish just before the first break. My favourite play was a limp under the gun with 45clubs, seat 3 made it 600 to go and was called in 2 spots, and when the BB also called I made it 4000 to go - I have limped UTG and then re-popped it to 4k, I have to have aces or kings obviously. Everyone folded instantly as expected and I picked up almost 3k with little risk (you can read more about this play in the article on bluffing). After the break it all went horribly wrong and I was out before the 2nd break. I raised with AQ and passed to a re-raise (gutless play), then I re-raised a short stack to isolate with 77 to find he had 88. I finally managed to get most of my stack in with Q6 vs. J8 (don’t ask me how, it was certainly interesting play to say the least). The J8 made a full house and I was all-in next hand for my last 1400 with A9 vs. AJ. The bar was then the main attraction with all the other losers.

Saturday PM – TTP vs Ariston challenge match

This was thrown together at about 11pm after way too much alcohol. Mandylou did the honours dealing and also had a side bet on myself (thanks for the confidence Mandylou). The match was a best of three affair with dpommo playing matches one and two (Hawk wasn't really in a fit state) and Dubai playing the decider if it was needed. Match one and dpommo destroyed me. Fair play to him, he can play and I wasn’t ready for the all out aggression. Match 2 and I changed my game to negate his aggression and won it quite easily (despite flat calling on the river with a straight flush in one hand, misread my hand obviously but Mandy’s face was a picture). The decider between me and Dubai was a strange affair. He changed his game and played very tight allowing me to win many small pots uncontested. There was an awful lot of speech play and he seemed keen to try and beat me in the verbal stakes - I can be outplayed but I will never be out chatted. When the money all went in - it was almost a coin toss after the flop. Because of the small pots I had him all-in, and if he caught either his Gutshot or his flush I would still have 800 chips left (starting stack 3000). The turn and river blanked off and TTP had been defeated. I will not mock them or drag it out with any bravado as I was genuinely impressed with dpommo’s play and was grateful Dubai changed his game - if he had played his natural game he could've given me problems.

Weekend Roundup

The craic was brilliant and I can honestly say there wasn’t a single person there you wouldn’t happily sit and have a pint with. I was absolutely gutted when Poker Queen bubbled and she was outside almost crying when I left for my taxi. I tried to explain that bubbling is part of poker and there would be plenty of other events as she is only 18 etc. I think she should be poker princess anyway as her mother should be Poker Queen. She seemed Ok when she took the first available cab and she obviously recovered winning back to back NTX tourneys after the weekend.

The whole weekend was a success and was very well natured and organised. A lot of respect has to go to Mandylou for pulling this off and I am sure the next one will be even more of a success. Well done obviously to reactive who won the event. The raffle raised over £800 for poker4charity.com and guess what - I won. I had to win something over the weekend and I collected the prize to the obvious cries of fix/its rigged etc. There are some advantages to being a betfair bunny - They can even pull the levers on a raffle!! I am sure everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as me and I know I cant wait for the next one (over to you Mandylou???) .

See you all on the tables.

Ariston