Pub Poker League - Weblomaniac takes it down

No online poker yesterday as it was local pub tournament night. I was sitting in second place in the Bishopton Poker League, just one point behind the leader so I went into last night's game determined to play well and try as hard as I could to win the game and move up to the top spot in the leaderboard. I would have to play a good game against the current leader though as he's a good player.
We had 11 players last night, so both our beautiful home made tables were in use and the standard of play was great. It's been getting stronger every week to be honest and you can see changes in individual players games as they introduce new moves into their repetoir.

Early on I played tight and tried not to get into too many dangerous pots. I picked up pocket kings quite early on and upgraded them to a set when a third one came down on the flop so that boosted my stack a bit.

Gradually the players got whittled down and we merged onto one table. With a couple of players quite short stacked I was sitting slightly below average with 4,500 chips when the average stack was 5,500. I luckily picked up pocket kings again, raised it pre-flop, hit another king on the flop to make a set and bet it. I checked the turn hoping my opponent would read that as wekenss and bet in to me on the river, which he obligingly did, only for me to re-raise him. Bingo, I sent a player to the rail, took down a nice big pot and nearly doubled my stack. With a bit of monetum and some chips behind me I took down the next two pots with marginal hands that came good and was now sitting on a perfectly respectable stack, enough to take me deep into the final table.

The field thinned and I took out the bubble player and went into the heads up battle with a significant chip lead against a strong player with lots of casino and poker club experience. I was reasonably confident because my heads up play isn't usually too shabby and I had a great chip advantage. But my opponent played really well he seemed to always manage to get out of the way of my genuine raises or significantly re-raise my opportunistic raises. He made a great comeback, took the chip lead and had me starting to wonder if I had a tell that he had spotted. I then lucked out on him re-raising all in on a flop that he had bet at. I was pretty sure his bet no the flop was a bluff so it was sickening when he flipped over middle pair to my unpaired A-x. But like the donkey that I am, I rivered an Ace and inflicted a rather sickening bad beat on him.

A little while later I limped into a pot from the big blind with 7-4 off suit only for a 7 to come down on the flop, which I bet, then another 7 on the turn. I get some more chips in and am reluctantly called. I now have a massive chip lead and I know my opponent is going to be shoving at every opportunity so I need to be careful not to double him up, but the blinds are big enough that I can't let him steal the blinds with impunity either.

The final hand was a toughy, I can't remember the exact hands but the flop was something like 4-5-J. I had paired my 5 and was last to act. My opponent shoved and I went into the tank. I knew he could be shoving with pretty much anything but he had actually had the goods on some of the earlier shoves that I had stood up to. I finally decided there was a chance my 5 might be good, I had a King as well so I had a strong kicker and an overcard. If I win the hand I take down the game, If I lose the hand I double him up but still have the chip advantage. I call and he reveals his cards, he's paired the 4 and doesn't improve his hand on the turn or river.

I took first place in the game, moved up to first position in the league table and took home a few quid into the bargain, Happy Days...

I need to be careful next week though, only two more league games to play and my main opponent, The Silver Fox is within easy striking distance.