Wading Through the World Poker Open

I said before I played the World Open, that it was going to be the toughest table that I had ever played at, and having played it I think it was definitely close but I actually feel like I acquitted myself fairly well against them. These TV events used to be complete crapshoots, but now they give you three times as many chips and there’s actually a good bit more play in them.

More chips would have been a great thing if I was playing against some of the internet qualifiers and rich amateur poker players who used to frequent these events. It’s not such a great thing when you’re up against Neil Channing, James Akenhead, Peter Jetten and Sam Trickett. My plan was to play pretty conservatively at the start and then when the blinds went up, to really get stuck in and gamble pre-flop. I knew that this could result in me finding myself all-in pre-flop in some bad spots, but I definitely thought this strategy would give me a better chance than trying to play flops with these guys.

I had gotten off to a pretty good start and was up to over 400,000 when I lost my first big pot, getting into trouble against Peter Jetten in a blind-on-blind hand. I’d raised from the small blind with A-J and check-raised all in on a 9-6-4 flop. I can’t remember exactly what the chip stacks and bet sizes were, but with the chips we had left on the flop I didn’t feel like I could bet out and then pass, as I’d be getting a good price to call and he could easily re-raise me with a draw. I don’t like check-folding or check-calling here either, so I figured the check-raise was my best option.

He made the call with A-6 and his hand held up. He acknowledged after the hand that he’d gotten lucky on the flop, and I tried to give him a bit of a good natured rub-down, saying, ’It’s ok… that makes up for that hand two years ago’, (in reference to the time I got lucky against him when Heads-up for a pot-limit Omaha WSOP bracelet and a prize difference of $400,000). He took it pretty well!

I’ve met Peter a few times, since he finished second to me in that pot-limit Omaha game. He seems like a really nice guy actually, and he’s an amazing player. He’s obviously going to make a lot more from the game than I am, so I don’t feel too bad for him that he finished 2nd that time. I do feel a little bit bad though, that after losing that big hand and being very short-stacked with only 115,000 in chips, I came back to overtake him in chips about 30 minutes later and proceeded to knock him out. It all went in pre-flop and it was a 50-50, so it wasn’t particularly lucky of me, but his hand was still winning until the river so it must have been a pretty sickening way for him to lose. I didn’t have to wait too long actually, to find out exactly how he felt.

I reached the heads-up stage out-chipped 2:1 by Sam Tricket. Sam had played great throughout the heat and I felt he probably had a bit of an edge over me. I was far from pot committed when I raised pre-flop with K-Q and he set me all in but I reckoned it was probably a 50-50 or 60-40 in his favour. I liked those odds better than my odds of trying to win by out-playing him. I managed to win that one when I spiked a K against his A-7, and nearly had the whole thing sewn up a few hands later, when I gambled pre-flop with 4-4 and was still leading against his K-Q with just the river to come.

The board read 9-7-2-7 by the turn and Sam had a flush draw too, so he had quite a lot of outs. There were a load of his friends railing him by this stage and they were all shouting out for various river cards which would win it for him. I only had Liam Flood cheering me on. ‘Pair the board’ shouted Liam just before the dealer burnt the final card and turned over a 9, giving Sam the winning hand with 9-9-7-7-K… cheers for that Liam.

I’ve also played the English Poker Open and two WSOPE events since then, with absolutely no success in either. I also got the chance to be photographed with a true legend of the boxing world, and had an inspired last minute change of mind which probably saved me my teeth. More about that next week.