Adams Rants

Friday 22nd February was the date of BigSlickEvents 2008 Team Event, a €210 event (or €840 per team) which was set to run for two days. You may not have heard me singing BigSlicks praises before, but they run great events. The Team Event was no exception. It boasted a 15k starting stack and 45 min blinds and attracted 31 teams (124 runners). After 14 hours of intense play, my team settled for 2nd place in the team rankings and each took home a share €4000!

I wasn’t really hitting much on Day 1 and wasn’t really in any make or break pots. My button raises were continuously being called and I missed most of the flops. I made a horrible err on one of my button raises where I looked down at Ace-rag of clubs and flopped a flush draw. I checked it down playing the flush draw and didn’t bother looking at my cards. I missed my draw on the river, a 4 of hearts making it two 4s on the board and mucked when I was shown top pair by the BB only to realise afterwards that my Ace-rag was actually Ace-4 :(.

Shortly afterwards I got Jacks in Mid Position and raised it 4 times the BB and was called by the button. I checked the Ace high flop and so did the button, I had a stab at the turn but was quickly called again. With no flush or straight draws on the board I surmised that I was behind and check folded the river to be shown AK. I certainly didn’t put him on that strong a hand and was more inclined to put him on a raggy ace!

I clashed preflop with the player to my right on several occassions. He raised whenever it was folded to him so when he raised to 400 with blinds at 50/100, I made it 1250 with A9. He looked at me and soon folded. Soon after I got AK and made the same play after he raised to 400. This time he called but folded after he checked it to me on a QJ9 board when I bet 2500.

Later on in the night I got AJ of heart on the button. My raise of 3 times the BB was just enough to lure the SB into the hand. I was very happy to see a flop of QKT to flop broadway! There were two diamonds on the board so after the SB checked, I made a pot sized bet that was called after much deliberation. The turn was a blank and once again I made a pot sized bet after it was checked to me. This time the SB didn’t call and I took down a relatively nice pot.

After the 40 minute dinner break, I was absolutely card dead. I was moved table twice which made it hard to establish an image. I stole the blinds a few times from late position on semi-bluffs. I raised from the cut off with pocket fours and was min-reraised by the Button who had been quiet all night. An AQJ flop was difficult to take a stab at, so I just check folded it. I took time to walk around and see how the rest of my team mates were doing. Paddy was up and down, yo-yo’ing from 30k to 20k on an almost hand-by-hand basis! Ollie was flying on 40k and John was just down with 14k having played tight all night. My dealer for the last two levels was extremely slow and we played 18 hands in 90 minutes which was a bit of a joke! I suppose one way of looking at it was that he was keeping me out of trouble!

Play stopped at 2:30am and our chips were bagged and tagged. I was on 12,375, which was well below the average stack of 21k. John still had 14k while Ollie had managed to get it up to over 60k to be third in chips for the day! Paddy’s rollercoaster ride left him with 23k, slightly above average!

Play resumed the next day at 2:30pm. I was seated at a table with position on chip leader Nicky Power. My first big pot of the day was from defending my BB. My BB had been raised by the same player every single orbit since I had been moved to the table the previous night. I hadn’t played back at him once so when he raised it to 2000 with blinds at 300/600 (25ante), I re-raised to 7000 with 2h3h, leaving 12k behind. I knew he was raising very light and given how I hadn’t played back once since he started attacking me, I thought he would fold. Strangely he only called after asking for a countdown of my chips. The flop was very favourable to me coming 2T4. I pushed all-in for my remaining chips knowing and he soon folded, much to my relief. I decided to show my hand which the table seemed to be shocked at with several “I thought you were tight” comments being made. Now that I had the average stack again, I planned on tightening up and showing that hand would help me get action on my big hands.

The very next orbit when on the BB, I looked down at QQ. The same villain raised once again and I once again reraised. He then moved allin and I happily called to see me dominating his 99. I had him covered slightly. This was the biggest pot I had been involved in all tournament. Needless to say a 9 reared its ugly head on the flop and there was no help for me on the turn or river. Having worked so hard to build my stack back up I was gutted to be left with around 6,000!

The very next hand I looked down at 66 and moved all in. This was met by a reraise allin by the player sitting to the left of me. Obviously I knew things weren’t looking very good and when everyone else folded I asked him had he a pair. “I do” he said, “but only a small one” as he turned over 88. A flop of 7d-4s-Js offered little help. The turn, the 3s gave me a gutshot and a flush draw and the Ks on the river completed the suck out! Of course this suck out would have to be the only one of my hands that live updater’s BlondePoker mentioned on their website! I was back up to 15k and was back in the sense that I could now (just barely) afford to be selective in choosing which hands to play and who to play them against.

With the blinds at 600/1200, I looked down at TT. Action was to Nicky Power who raised it to 3300. I moved all in and it was folded around to Nicky who deliberated for sometime before calling with A9 saying that I have 77 or 88 there often enough for him to have enough equity to call. I was looking in good shape and a ten on a rainbow flop put me in even better shape. The turn offered no help to Nicky and I doubled up once again!

My exit hand was a few orbits later, on the last hand of the 600/1200 level. I’m dealt QQ UTG and put in a hefty raise of 5400 (I looked at the blind timer to gauge my raise and it had already moved to the next level). I’m called by the button (the same person that I had lost to with queens earlier) and by Nicky Power on the BB. The flop is Jh3c7h. I bet out 14k and the button goes all in. I think for a short while. Maybe if there wasn’t a flush draw on the board I could have found a way to get out of it. I call for the last of my chips and he shows 33 for a flopped set! I get no help from the turn or river and bow out in 41st place, gaining my team 5 points. Looking back, it was a bad call by him. With me playing a stack of 40k, my preflop raise gave him insufficient implied odds to mine for a set. This was the first hand I played UTG since I arrived at the table the previous night. If he thought position was a reason to call he was wrong as well, because my range is very tight in early position to combat the difficulties of playing out of position. The only possible way I could have escaped from it was if I had limped UTG and pushed over the top of his inevitable raise. He would have been forced to fold then!

That’s pretty much all I have to say about my involvement in the event, read on learn about the key hands that led us to second place in the Team Event.

The key hands in the team event:

With two tables left, Team number one of Matt Dobbins could only reach the cash if their last remaining team member finished sixth or better. Having put all his chips in with AK vs AQ. A board of A58 looked innocent enough, a 5 on the turn and the last ace popped on out the river meaning both players were playing a full house (aces and fives) and the pot was chopped! Several minutes later and he pushed with 55 to be called by AK. AK won the race, hitting a gutshot on the river to send Matt Dobbins team out in 4th place.

Percy Kingston, one of the two remaining players of Noel Kelly’s team had seemingly been playing a tight game all day and when he reraised allin on a rainbow board of 679, Ollie St John felt he had no choice but to lay down his pocket tens. Percy then showed A9 for TPTK and took down a massive pot that crippled the one time chip leader Ollie St. John and put Noel Kellys team in the right position to take town the team title. Ollie soon went out when his push on the button with AJ was called by the BB’s pocket tens. No help for Ollie and he was knocked out.

Meanwhile, Paddy Dunphy was making his own luck on his table. Realising he needed to pick up chips, he raised Dan Boltons BB only to find himself reraised and committed. He called for the last of his chips with K9 of diamonds which wasn’t in too bad a shape against Dans AQo. A flop of QJ9 with two diamonds meant that Paddy had outs coming out of his ears going into the turn and river with the ten of diamonds falling on the river giving him a straight flush and putting him right back in the hunt!

Paddy was once again involved in a big hand shortly after, this time against Mick Doran who, along with his team mate Richie Lawlor, looked to be in good shape to challenge for the win. Mick Doran raised and Paddy Dunphy pushed all in. Mick called with little hesistation and was delighted to see his QQ dominating Paddys 99. Micks delight soon turned into despair however, when a 9 appeared on the flop leaving Mick drawing very thinly to a two outer! No help came on the turn or river and after a quick breakdown of the chips it was discovered that Paddy had Mick covered by a few thousand and Mick bowed out, obviously frustrated.

This had a massive effect on the outlook of the event. Noel Kellys team were now the hot favourites going into the final table with 2 players remaining. They were guaranteed 1st 2nd or 3rd with third looking unlikey given that both players would have to go out in 9th and 8th on the final table! John Rogers team, of which Paddy Dunphy was the sole remaining representative, was guaranteed 2nd with the possibility of 1st should Noel Kellys team have suffered a blow up. Richie Lawlor remained in with a shout of his team coming second subject to him winning the tournament out right!

The complexion of the whole event was changed when Noel Kelly was eliminated first from the final table! His AJ shove ran into a dominating bigger ace. His team still had one remaining member, Percy Kingston who was the shortstack of the table. Percy needed to finish 4 places ahead of Paddy Dunphy to secure the title and with the shortstack that looked unlikely! Stranger things have happened though.

After a quiet half an hour or so, without much action, Paddy Dunphy limped UTG for the first hand he played at the final table and happily pushed allin after Richie Lawlor raised from the button. Richie called and showed AK which looked to be in terrible shape against Paddys AA! The drama wasn’t over yet and another dramatic hand played out with Richie hitting not one, but two kings on the flop knocking Paddy out in 7th place!

Percy now needed to finish in 3rd place or better to secure the title. Richie Lawlor was no longer in contention was 2nd place in the team event. John Rogers team of Adam Murphy, Ollie St John, Paddy Dunphy and of course John, were now confined to the rails and could only watch as the action unfolded.

Richie Lawlor was pressing Percy hard and raised most of his blinds. Percy finally made a stand when he called Richies massive raise with A2. It looked to be in terrible shape against Richies A7. A Jack high flop offered no help to either and Percy looked to be resigned to defeat when a jack paired the board and meant both players were playing ace high. Chop Chop!

Percy soon found himself in the midst of the action as he came over the top of longtime chipleader Colm Fardy’s raise. Colm called and showed AK, racing against Percys 10’s. Straight away Colm hit his king, much to the delight of John Rogers team but when the cards were spread, an unsightly 10 was revealed for a set and Percy doubled up through Colm. For the first time in the duration of the final table, Percy had an average stack and he had now had a decent chance to take the title if he could simply stay out of trouble.

Things improved for Percy when Eoin O’Neills push for 205k was insta-called by Nicky Power. Eoin O’Neills KJ was dominated by Nickys KQ and Nicky took down another monster pot sending Eoin out in 5th place. Colin Fardy was the next victim when he lost his third race in a row against John Kelly. Colin had joined the final table as the chip leader.

Percy was now sitting pretty with a decent amount of chips and fortunately for him, Nicky and John went to war with John winning yet another race to double up through Nicky. Then, Johns raise was met by an allin by Nicky which was in turn was instantly called by John. Nicky threw over 6c8c which were in need of more than a bit of help against John’s Jacks. No help came and Nicky exited in 4th place meaning Percy Kingston had secured the team event title for Team Noel Kelly!

The last person to be eliminated from the event was Richie Lawlor who pushed when he flopped an open ended straight draw but failed to improve. Percy and John Kelly then proceeded to do a deal with John taking home €2800 and Percy €2000, as well as his share of his teams €6500!

Overall it was a fantastic event and a real nailbiter in the end! Well done to the winners and everyone who cashed!

Summary of team event:

1st: Team Noel Kelly: Noel Kelly, Dave Fagan, Steven Richards, Percy Kingston
2nd: Team John Rogers: John Rogers, Adam Murphy, Paddy Dunphy, Ollie St John
3rd: Team Fish With Chips: Richie Lawlor, Mick Doran, Lorcan Dooley, A. N. Other.