My News

22.01.10

Re-Buy Tournament

Published by Shane Warne

The tournament had 108 runners and was a $1K re-buy tournament with a 1500 starting stack and re-buys anytime you are under.

I gambled early and managed to double up through a 2 3 against AJ first hand! When the A came to make my flush, he pushed with top pair and I called and took it down.

After that start, I concentrated on playing good cards without too much risk until the end of re-buys. At that stage, I had a triple add-on which took me to about 10k in chips when the knockout stage began.

I managed to stay out of trouble playing solid poker. I hadn’t walked into any monsters on my good hands and after 12 hours I had made it through to my first final table, I was so excited!!

This morning, thinking about sitting down for the final table later in the day, I couldn’t believe I had reached my goal. When I signed with 888 it was my goal to make a final table within 2 years, I had made it by 1 day.

Walking to the table to be seated, I noticed a large crowd. In my cricket days the bigger the crowd the better, however, on the poker table I felt a little nervous. I had 39,200 in chips which put me in 8/10 in chips, a long way behind the chip leader. I knew I only needed a couple of good hands and a double up to be right in it though.

First hand, in late position, I looked down at 7 8 . There had been a raise so I folded as I was determined to stay patient and try and build my chip stack.

Second hand I looked down at Q’s and knew this is exactly what I needed to build my stack early and give myself a good chance. With blinds at 800/1600 and 200 antes I raised to 3800. The button flat called and the small blind re-raised to 9800 and the big blind folded.

The action was now back on me and I felt like I was ahead and tried to work out the best play. I decided to push all in hoping he would fold AK or would be behind if he had a pocket pair. The button folded and the small blind, Gary Benton, tanked for 8-9 minutes before calling. I turned over my Q’s confidently and he showed K’s, I was gutted.

I couldn’t improve my hand and I was knocked out 2nd hand. Obviously I was shattered. I was hoping to get a lot of experience for the next time, hopefully, that I made a final table. Let’s hope I don’t have to wait too long for another opportunity. I know my game has improved a lot and I do feel more confident at tournaments now. 

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