The Cincinnati Club - Second Visit

I enjoyed my Saturday night Freezeout out at the Cincinnati Club in Glasgow so much last Saturday that I was really looking forward to going back again. I did alright last week finishing in about 15th out of 36 and was confident I could do better. I did still feel that I was one of the least experienced players though so wasn't expecting to make it into the money.

I think we were about the first to arrive at 7:30 and it definately wasn't as busy as the previous week. In the end only 21 players signed up for the game and it was suggested that we take the buy in up from £10 to £20 as it was so quiet, everybody agreed.

We were split across three tables to start and given 6,000 chips each. Play was nice and solid and sensible and we had nice deep stacks which were to make for a very enjoyable evening. We had three Norwegian guests in the tournament, livened up the banter at the table a bit, they were over visiting Strathclyde University. The Scandanavians are known for their aggressive poker style and the three young lads took a little bit of good natured banter about this. One of them went out within the first hour or so and I would eventually knock the second one out when he pushed his short stack into the middle and I called him with pocket Aces. The remaining Norwegian played a good game and despite finding himself short stacked a couple of times used his aggression and picked his spots nicely to build his chips back up.

Once a few players had been knocked out we were whittled down to two tables and my mate Andy ended up at the same table as me. I had position on him but he arrived with a pretty impressive stack of chips. I hoped we didn't run into each other too heavily at the table as the journey home might be a bit frosty if one of us knocked the other out. With that in mind, I guess it was almost inevitable that we would run head first into each other. I had been laying down junk hands for what seemed like an eternity and finally picked up a nice starting hand K-Q hearts in late position. Andy had been playing quite tight but he decided to bet the flop this time and raised the big blind three times, I called and down came the flop with two more hearts in it. Andy bet the flop and I raised him hoping he would jump out of the way, he called and the turn revealed another heart giving me a King high flush. I guess he could have had the Ace of hearts but I was pretty sure he didn't. Had it been anybody else at the table I would have tried to get all my chips in and bust somebody out but I showed restraint and checked the turn and river before scooping up the chips.

Play continued and more players dropped out until Andy and I found ourselves at the final table of nine players, we both had pretty reasonable stacks probably about the middle of the field. I continued to play tight, steal a few blinds and see what happened. I built my chips up a bit more, caught a few nice cards and increased my stack some more until we were down to five players. Then Andy and I ran into each other big style once again. Andy raised preflop and I looked down to see Pocket Aces, naturally I called. The flop came down, Andy checked and I raised hoping once again that he would jump out the way but he didn't. My Aces held up and I took a large lump of chips from him. Once again I could have been more agressive but held back a bit. None the less that hand left and seriously short stacked and there was no way back from there for him, he busted out in 5th.

My stack was now quite healthy, the chip leader had an enormous stack and there were two smaller stacks than me. Number 4 busts out and I know I'm in the money. The short stack at the table now is the remaining young Norwegian lad, we treated his pushes with some respect not wanting to let him double up and finally the chip leader wiped him out on one of his pushes. I'm now heads up and out chipped by about 5 to 1. We play a few hands relatively passively each player folding to the others raises and trading blinds. Then I'm raised in the small blind with Pocket fours and decide to re-raise in case my opponent was just trying to steal my blind. He calls and the flop comes down with lots of face cards, 2 Queens and maybe a Jack. He puts in a small bet and I see this as an opportunity to push hard and try and take down what is now a big pot. I raise, he calls and down comes another face card, a King this time. He checks and I put in a big raise which causes him to fold showing pocket 10's as he does so. Everybody at the table is putting me on trip Queens or a full house of Kings and Queens I just agree with them for now pleased that 4's didn't get called all the way :-). That hand helped a lot and I was sure I had some good reads on my opponent and could force him to fold good hands. I had just increased my stack nicely but I would need to do this a few more times to equal his stack, so be it. The very next hand I picked up A-6 offsuit, not a hand I would get behind on a big table but more than sufficient heads up. I raised it up 3xBB then he re-raised twice the pot, the pot is now huge. I thought a long time about my next move, I stared him down and picked up the tells I was looking for. I knew he had something but I also knew he was pissed that I was being aggressive and trying to eat into his stack. There's a lot in the pot, if I go for it and win I'll have matched his stack, if I lose I'm crippled, or worse. If I pair my Ace I'll probably take the pot, I'm in the money, got further than I expected, it's late, I'm tired, what the heck. I shove. I knew I probably shouldn't have, if I'd stuck to the patience and discipline that had got me this far I woud have layed it down, but my agression had been building and working and I had to try and command the table if I was to overturn his chip lead...here goes. We flip our cards over and he has pocket Kings. If I hit my Ace I'll take the pot and pull up even with his stack, if nothing improves I'm busted. Well no Aces came down har turned his pair of Kings into trips on the turn... Doh!

Never mind, that's the way it goes. In hindsight I should have got out of the hand when he re-raised me and played with a bit more patience, but heh...that's poker. I picked up my £120 winnings and went home with a huge smile on my face. I had done far better than I expected to and I didn't feel dominated or outplayed heads up...I feel I had a good chance but blew it. I am also rather chuffed because I would consider myself to be one of the least experienced players at CinCin's listening to the bater around the room. There's maybe hope for me yet.

I'll be back at CinCin's again soon, can't wait. I want to try and prove to myself that it wasn't just a fluke and see if I can make the Final Table and Cash out again. I might need to leave it a couple of weeks though. A slap up lunch at Ben & Jerry's with the family on Sunday paid for from my winnings should help win me a few brownie points though.