Still in the The Vic £750 freezeout

At the last minute i decided play the £750 freezeout due to the fact I had won a bit of money in the Dealers Choice game.

I actually felt really focused throughout though I had admit I did steam at one point and got lucky twice late on to still be in. Had a tricky looking starting table which had Willie Tann, Simon Trumper and Ali Mallu arrived shortly afterwards. I had managed to slowly build my stack to a 8500 from a starting point of 5000 after level one which I was pretty pleased with. When the blinds reached 100/200 (Level 3) I had around 10000 chips and limped under the gun with JJ. Flop Jc3d4d. As there had been 4 callers to my limp checked hoping for a raiser and Ali Mallu who was sat to my left raised it to 1200. Everyone passed and I called. I thought it was too good an opportunity to scare someone of which is why I didn’t raise. Turn 8s. I check again and Ali raised it 3000. I now moved all in and he said he passed 5d6d so had a massive draw…..

I then steadily managed to build up my chips to 25000 over the next few levels and when blinds reached 400/800 and I raised in middle position to 3200 with 88 and a player in late position called. It flopped TQ4 and I moved all in. He only had 8000 left so could have done me some damage if he called. He mucked JJ. I had put him on AK so I was lucky that a J didn’t fall.

I was up to a high point of 35000 when a hand happened that made me steam for a while. I had reraised Alan Betson a couple of times who was sat directly to my right…. and had actually shown him a bluff reraise. Everyone passed around to him on the small blind and he moved all in for 11400 which was a huge overbet. I saw an A and decided if I squeezed a Q, K or A with it I would call. It was a K so I moved my chips in. He turned over 4s9s and hit a 9 to take the pot down. I know percentage wise I wasn’t a huge favorite but it still made me steam for a while. I kept thinking I should have been on 45000 chips instead of back amongst the field with 25000. I made a few lousy calls to try and hit flops and was down to 20000. I managed to get my focus back and start playing properly again.

Blinds were rapidly increasing and most bets before the flop were taking down the blinds and antes…. I had a bit of a rush of cards and built my stack to 33000 again. With the blinds at 800/1600 and running antes of 200 Alan raised under the gun to 6000 and I looked down at AK. I was pretty sure I could get him to lay most hands down so I raised it to 18000. Unfortunately S Bovis woke up with AA behind me. The only saving grace was that he had just 15000 chips left so I was still in it with 18000. We were down to three tables now and quite close to the money. I then got very lucky. I raised my last 15000 chips with Qc6c and Bad Girl called the majority of her stack in late position. She turned over AK so I was about in as good a shape as I could have hoped for with live cards. It flopped Tc9c6h. Just about the best flop for me I could imagine. Turn a Qs and river a Kc to give me the flush.

Blinds were then up to 1000/2000 and I played tight for a while and the bubble player was knocked out. With 28000 chips I raised with AdJd. All passed around to S Bovis who raised the remainder of my chips. I passed. He said he had 88. As I only had 20000 chips and the blinds were so high I decided I would try and double through rather than return with less than 10 big blinds for Day 2. I picked up 9hJh and moved all in to try and steal the blinds. J Rogers immediately to my left reraised all in for about 20000 more. That didn’t look promising. Everyone passed and he flipped over 66. I thought he must have had a high pocket pair so was pleased to see 66. It flopped TQK to give me the straight….. I was very lucky with that coin flip and we finished two hands after that and I have 43200 chips and the button is on me. We resume with blinds of 1500/3000 and running antes of 200. The average chip count is 53000 and there are 16 players left…..

I posted the chip counts on Blondepoker if anyone wants to check if there mate is still in.