Hi all forum members,

(every hand revealed) for the 1st GUKPT would be a good idea...

decent amount of time right?

was a hassle), here's what happened...

as it's not too far from home, and I was fortunate enough to come 6th in this the year before. This

field attracted 235 runners, a slightly smaller but maybe stronger field than last year (more younger

faces).

I don't want to say that I have a formula for these type of events, but certainly having played a lot

of these has given me a good feel for how the players play, and how to adjust the structure. I usually

like to attack quite early at 25/50 blinds playing lots of hands that may win big pots and also go

after players that might want to protect their tournament life. As blinds go up, I normally just play

solid poker and wait for the antes to kick in. In reality, a lot of what happens depends on your table

draw and what situations the cards put you in.

So my table (I wasn't moved) was drawn like this:

Seat 1: Marc Coupar
Seat 2: David R Lloyd
Seat 3: Richard Swerling
Seat 4: Panni Ellinas
Seat 5: Me
Seat 6: Nick Evans
Seat 7: Paul Parker
Seat 8: Vince Calenti
Seat 9: Laurence Houghton

I was fairly happy with my draw as there was some familiar and unfamiliar faces on my tables. I know

Paul and Laurance well (he was my room-mate and knew my game plan ), but I would just stick to it

and see how we went.

So onto the 1st and most important hand of the tournament for me. It's the one where there can be the

most discussion for a number of reasons. One orbit has gone by and 10 mins passed (no significant pots

have been played).

All fold to Panni in MP1 who limps for 50, I limp behind with 66 (I could certainly raise to 225 here

for a number of reasons but I decide that I am a bit OOP (out of position) and just want to play a

flop), 2 more folds and the button (Vince) takes a deep breath and makes it 300 to play. This is a

GREAT spot for me, as I really do NOT think that Vince is 'squeezing' here and think is a great

situation for me to flop a big hand against a potential overpair. Panni calls, and I obviously call.

point Vince will be playing straightforwardly and won't bet his JJ-KK hands. If he has AA exactly, I

think I am going broke. I am not sure of Panni's range here, but obviously I hope that someone has an

ace. I also need to get 200BB in here (10k starting stacks) so I thought the best way of building a

big pot would be to lead out. I also think that if Vince (the raiser) has AQ/AK here he may be tempted

to raise on such a wet (drawy) flop.

Panni's range is still pretty wide here, he could have an ace, a straight draw, a flush draw, an 8. In

fact he could have a number of different hands. I am just delighted to have flopped and set and

looking to see what comes on the turn.

or check. And, if bet how much?

Panni checks quickly, and I decide that in order to keep building the pot to an amount where I may get

all in (nearly) on a river shove, I decided to bet 1650 into 2175. There would be 5475 in the pot if

Panni calls and I would have 7450 left in my stack at the river, (annoyingly) over the pot.

I bet a bit less than full pot thinking that I still have the best hand and not trying to drive out

worse hands (like an ace). If Panni is still drawing to say diamonds, I want to charge him an amount

that makes it a misktake for him to call and still builds the pot. Retrospectively, betting a bit less

is still OK (like 1250) and can control the pot size a bit more if somehow I am beat. This however is

a more defensive tactic that I feel loses a certain amount of value in (rare) situations like this

one.

So, I bet 1650 into 2175 and Panni INSTA check-raises to 4000 straight. Seriously f**k My Life! It's

2350 more to me.

played so few hands thus far) and he could well have me beat. The hands that beat me could well be the

straight (as I don't think he limps AA or 88 preflop), so 79 for the obvious OESD (open-ended straight

draw) and 74 for the gutshot straight draw. This would mean that he would have to limp in with these

hands preflop and call a raise OOP. Unlikely but possible.

Now, against an unknown in a GUKPT, he could well be raising with a WORSE hand like a turned 2 pair

that he thinks is the nuts or even just top pair! This is definetly possible against all the players

that I have played with in the early stages of a GUKPT. I just think my hand is too strong to just

muck at this point.

flush draw or pair and a straight draw or total air. I like playing live as you get a better feel for

how strong a player is and how much he likes his hand. To be honest, I am more of an online player and

make the best 'long-run' plays and normally don't put too much emphasis on these 'live' tells. I put

more emphasis on betting patterns and frequencies. However, that said, you really do have the luxury

live to think everything through at length and look physically at the person to see if you can pick up

on any let's say 'nervousness'. To me Panni is not giving too much away at this point, and as I have

said before I just think that my hand is too strong too fold.

with a number of fish (like Praz Bansi) and they we're like meh get it in? Well I decided that since I

wasn't folding, I would just call and maybe something like a diamond would peel off and he would get

scared (because that could well me in MY range) and check the river if I were beat. Again, it's a bit

defensive as if he were semi-bluffing, it would be better to commit his chips on the turn. Also, if I

had HIM beat, he might not want to pay me off if one of many scare cards come on the river.

Anyway, I call.

the river laying me 3/1 the call. So, I could go for another 1000 words what happens now, but

basically having to right 25% of the time I make the call and he shows me 7h4h for a flopped gutshot

and backdoor flush draw which hit a big turn.

tournament life and am presented with a strong opportunity to double-up and build a good stack which I

feel I can use well at this stage of the tournament. I AM keen to press ALL small edges early on.

To balance this argument, some people may say that against a field where I have a good edge (how

quantifiable is this really?), I should be avoiding playing big pots against players who's tendecies I

am unsure of (I may well have gotten away from this aganist Paul Parker LOL). Having seen Panni play

really agressively later on, I think on balance I am happy with the call. As a last note, Paul said to

me that he felt my man was really solid on the river (from watching him) and that maybe I COULD have

found a fold. I would argue that I agree with Paul in that Panni WASN'T bluffing, but could well be

value-owning himself with a hand that my set beat (like Aces up).

So, I went to get up and wished everyone the best of luck and laughed about how short the blog would