My First Live Event

[Sentinel]

Hello, hello.

Last year, I qualified for the Virgin Festival (online qualification only) and on Fridau, I travelled to sunny Newcastle to take my place. This post is a review of the event.

How did I find it all? Strange but good. I love it waaaaaaaay more than online play, for sure.

The whole thing was surreal as people couldn't wait to leave the tournament. As someone on my table commented, it was being played like a short stacked turbo. Even Tony "TK" Kendall, who was compering, made a sarcastic remark with "and we have an all in between 2 monsters, Q6 off and A5 suited". Our table was far more sophisticated and rather tight.

I went in with the obvious mindset to play tight, see cheap flops and not get too involved too early. And this became of more importance when, taking my seat, I discovered I had a known pro (been on TV and all that) sat next to me, on my left. However, that outlook didn't last as 2nd hand in I was dealt AQ and had to play. I won 2000 and had increased my stack by 20%!

That hand was won against a guy who I took an immediate dislike to. He had a face I just wanted to smack. If any of you have seen "Snatch", he looked just like the character Brick Top. He was wearing a Golden Nugget jacket and seemed to know the pro on my left so I assumed he was a decent, seasoned player. The pro later confirmed they meet on the tournament circuit.

What was interesting was as I played that AQ, against Brick Top, I felt my tension rise, and as he bet on the flop, I felt my pulse thundering in my neck - and this was with a genuine hand so heaven help if it was a bluff. It was a unique experence as I never felt this way playing online. I controlled my body and brought my pulse and breathing down and won the hand. From that point in, I had no nerves at all and ran bluffs and strong hands quite nonchalantly.

It was a surprise to find out that the levels didn't allow for as much play as I thought as each hand took a fair bit longer than online play so the levels seemed to change quickly.

I struggled a lot with the betting and once or twice thought I was making a significant reraise when in fact I wasn't even making a minraise! And it was hard to keep track, especially when the antes kicked in. This is just an attention issue, as I am used to a poker site calculating it all for me.

So I started well but a few hands after that AQ, disaster struck, with one limper at 25/50, I lookded down at JJ and raised to 200 which was called. Long story short, and convinced I was being tested, I lost 7000 and was down to just under 5000. And by the 100/200 level I was starting to panic.

I'll be honest and admit I couldn't read anybody - though I did "know" when someone was weak and/or bluffing and so I made raises with air as a result. And won. What was also nice was that I pwned the pro for pretty much all of the opening day, which was nice. The last time occured when both of us missed the flop, the pro took the lead and bet 2000 on the turn and I raised to 5000, to which the pro frustratingly replied "am I here just so you can spank me?"

As I have never read Mike Caro's Book of Tells I had no idea what to do with my body language. I always adopted poses that signified confidence and strength but was unsure whether that was good (because our body language usually reflects our strength/weakness) or bad (because its a game of deception and weak = strong and vice versa).

From my early stack of under 5000 I played really good and I was very happy. I had only 4 good hands all game: AQ, JJ, AA and JJ. The first JJ cost me 7000, the AA only got me 1000 and the 2nd JJ knocked out a 3500 chip short stack so I never got the chance to double up. Despite being dealt trash, I played the player for the most part and took my 4500 to 8900 at the 1st break and to above average with 13100 by dinner. I continued my play and dragged my way up to 24,000 - well above the average of 14,000. I was really proud and chuffed.

The pro, who had won over £125,000 including £25k in a recent event, seemd to just be playing ABC poker. Of course, I am not an expert but it just seemed to be typical ABC TAG with a few moves thrown in. I didn't see any hero calls with bottom pair or awesome reads and I found that very refreshing because if that play can win you £25k at a time and enable you to go pro then it's not quite as out of reach as the mystical, telepathic level that Ivey, Negreanu and Hellmuth all enjoy.

[crack]

Did u win or nit?

[Sentinel]

I did not win.

[Ciso_B]

cool, well done on getting into the event. I've played with Tikay in nottingham many a time, he's a nice guy. Live play is much more enjoyable then online.
I played tonight but was restless, my muscles were killing me after rejoining the gym the other day. But how did you do in the end anyway?

[Sentinel]

Thx Ciso,

Can you give advice on any of the above - especially about body language?

I was dreading your question. As you read, I performed really well to drag myself into contention. But then, on day 2, I let myself down, badly.

Remember Brick Top? Well, I had folded a number of blinds and with $100 antes, it was getting expensive and so in the bb, I decided to make a stand, with 103 off no less. I messed up my reraise, as described above, and Brick Top became arsey (which wound me up). In the end, I just made a min raise rather than the substantial one I wanted to.

Flop came QAx all diamonds and I had a flush draw with the mighty 3d and so I insta moved all in, Brick looked unhappy and said he didn't want to call me. After a long pause I was just honest and said a sentence to which he replied "that's what I was looking for" and called instantly, flipping Ac 10s and I missed my flush. Funny thing is, he acted as though I provided a tell but I guarantee I did not.

Now, I know how bad 10 3os is but even the reraise wasn't that bad - and I had been doing it throughout day one - I just performed it dreadfully. And as for the all in, terrible but even so, had I thought about it, rather than auto shoving on the flop, I may have got away with it. Bottom line is, my semi bluff failed the basic criteria which is to make it believable and so Brick Top was in no doubt he was ahead by at least 2:1.

The play was bad enough but it's the execution that really rankles. And I kow I was affected by Brick Top's "bloody noobies" moan. All I had learnt since day one of learning about poker, and all the good work I had put in at the tournament itself, was undone in one moment of sheer and (this is what hurts) unnecessary madness.

I didn't even move all in for the flush. I just moved all in on a desperate, unthinking defence ploy. Even if I had 3 5c! I didn't even check what the pot odds were, and that he was priced in. If I'd paid attention, I wouldn't have pushed as I had little chance of getting him off his hand.

Worst, worst of all was the look Tikay gave me that said both "what the f**k were you doing with 10 3?" and "that's what you get when you play like a retard."

Going out is one thing. Going out like a lemon,basically eliminating yourself, is another altogether. And going out to the guy who I took a dislike to from the off - well, that will burn for a loooong time.

Even longer still, Tikay's expression. One of those half smiles where the lip curls slightly but rest of the face is serious and dead pan.

Oh, the shame. Still, I console myself with the thought that the pro who I repeatedly spanked said good things about me to him, as they were always yakking away. I even heard Tikay call the other contestants "bloody fish!" which was funny.

[mortaleclipse]

The thing about your post I liked the most is you know what your mistakes were and you know you need to correct them. I enjoyed reading your post and your experience.

[Sentinel]

Ty.

[HalfSugar]

Did u win or nit?

That is absolutely not a typo is it?