Christina v The Ricoh Arena Part II (Taking on the Goliath)

It was getting on for midnight by the time we reached it. The hotel right by the casino was fully booked this time, so we’d booked the Ibis about 4 miles away. As it was a little late, we took our bags in, and left the microwave in the car, and in fact, that’s where it ended up staying, so instead of helping to save money on food, it probably ended up hindering fuel efficiency!

Waiting for us at the hotel was also a package I’d ordered through Ebay, in the form of two t-shirts – I’d had the bright idea of having it sent to the hotel, in case it didn’t arrive for me back home in time for the tournament. We’d come up with the name of Fish & Chips as our team-name, and I’d got a couple of shirts with our names on. Mine – blue with Fish in yellow lettering – was ok, but Christina’s – yellow with Chips! in blue lettering – was a bit too small – it looked more like a child’s size, so sadly, the t-shirt idea was dropped. I’d even had a bracelet with my pokerstars name, NickBlack5, engraved on it (I really was going to town for this event, wasn’t I?!), and I did wear this, but it was pretty silly of me getting a cheap bracelet engraved, as the clasp is pretty poor, forever coming undone, and I was to lose the bracelet after the first day’s play.

We had a little drink, before going to bed by about 2.30am. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep. I was up again at 5am. After a cigarette, I finally got some kip (although it was a no-smoking room, as we were on the ground floor, we could either leap out of the window for a fag before leaping back in, or just smoke out of the window, but don’t tell the hotel that!).

Despite a lack of a good sleep, coffee helped us get going. Anyone who has ever stayed in one of the regular brands of British hotel will know how frustrating it is to be only given two sachets of coffee, and four tiny cartons of milk between two people. I know what the thinking behind the 2 cartons is – look, we give you not one, but 2 cartons to use! But 2 of practically nothing is still practically nothing! Christina took the wise option of going to get extra milk cartons. We found that even 5 each of these fecking things was barely enough to make a satisfactory cup of coffee, but with the caffeine flowing in our veins, we made it back to the Ricoh just in time for the start of Day 1E.

This tournament has a total of 6 days of entry, with one re-entry allowed each day. In theory you could start on Day 1A, re-enter, then try again on Day 1B, etc. for a maximum of 12 entries! We were determined not to make it more than one or two total entries though.

Just finding your table in such a vast hall was not easy, but once there, there was a goody bag, with vouchers, a quite nice Goliath card protector, etc. waiting for each player.

I quite liked my first table. Seemed to be a reasonable standard. No-one who I thought I needed to fear too much. Reasonably friendly. I was doing ok with winning some smallish pots. I was fairly sure I could make it to the end of Level 6, which was when the re-entries finished. Christina, on a table not too far from me, was also doing ok. I popped over to her table every now and then to see that she was gradually accumulating chips. Generally, I was enjoying the occasion.

The crucial hand for me came in around Level 8, so not too long after the end of the re-entries. I had flopped a straight with 8/10 (a favourite hand of mine, especially, of course, if they are suited). The flop was 9/Q/J, and as there were 3 or 4 others in the hand, and I was one of the first to act, I put in a reasonable bet, expecting a couple of callers. I was indeed called by 2 players, which I liked, of course. I don’t quite recall what the turn card was, but I think it was probably a low card, which was fine by me. I increased the bet size, which saw off one player, but I still had one caller. The river was a king. This was not a great card for me, as I now had a more weak straight. The guy who had called me was first to act, and bet around 10,000 which was about double what I’d bet on the turn. If I called and lost, it left me with quite a depleted stack. I still had the straight. It was possible that he just had a 10, but also possible, with A/10 that he was beating me. I felt I had to still call, but sure enough, the king on the river was the card he’d been fishing for, as his A/10 gave him the higher straight. I think it would have been a pretty big lay down, but as he struck me as a relatively conventional player, I could have laid it down, as there were not many other hands he would have bet so big with.

So with a greatly depleted stack, I was now looking for premium hands. It was not too long before I picked up pocket queens. I raised, and was put all in, but fortunately this other shortish stack only had jacks, and my queens held up. So I doubled up, but was still not in marvellous shape. I think I lost a few chips, before picking up jack/10 suited (diamonds). On a jack high flop, with the 9 of diamonds as well, the player first to act checked, so I donked in my last 5 or 6 thousand. Sadly, I got called by ace/jack, and his ace kicker was good enough to win the hand (we were not going to see another jack, not that that would have helped, as the guy who checked first, and then folded to the A/J’s all in, had also had a jack). So I was out! Must have been around Level 8 I think.

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