Scully's first live win!!!!!!!

[Scully]

Yesterday was a landmark day in my poker career. MY FIRST LIVE TOURNAMENT WIN.

I was meant to be playing cricket yesterday afternoon but a lunchtime thunder storm put paid to that so, being at a loose end, I drove down to a local casino to play in the weekly Saturday afternoon tournament.

It was a £10 ($20) tournament with one rebuy or add on on. With a small field of 45 there ended up being a final prize pool of £850 ($1700). The structure was 3,000 starting stacks, 25/50 blinds in level 1 and 50/100 in level two. These levels last 45 minutes each before moving to 20 minute levels. So plenty of play early, but its important to get a stack for when the levels shorten.

Things started pretty slow with no real playable hands for the first couple of orbits, then I get JJ in my BB. One player limps, and the active Hungarian guy (not sure what he was doing in North West England - maybe he was lost) raises to 150. I have around 2,500 chips at this point. The Hungarian has been raising a lot so I’m not putting him on a big pair necessarily so I raise to 600. He then goes all in. He would do this with a lot of hands I call, happy to take a flip given I can always rebuy if I lose the hands.

The Magyar turns over AA and I’m about to call for more chips when the Jack appears on the flop. And then again on the turn. So I’m now on over 5k.

There was one other hand of note in the rebuy period where I have J9 in the BB and four limpers for a pot of 500. The flop is KJx and is checked around. The turn is a rag so I lead out for 300 confident that no-one has the K. The SB calls. I make trip Jacks on the river and the SB bets 800 into me. I’m pretty sure I’m ahead as there are no straights or flushes on board, but that was a healthy bet. I decide I’m WA/WB so just call and snap off a bluff.

Getting towards the end of the rebuy period I’ve got up to around 10k basically through steals as I’m pretty card dead. I then have to decide whether to add on or not. I figured out that the average stack would be around 6000 – 6500 after all add ons had been completed so I decided I didn’t need to bother.

After the break I’m card dead again. I managed to grow my stack over the next few levels with a couple of small pots and steals to around 15k. Then the 2nd big hand, and big suckout, comes.

A new, young, brash guy is moved to our table after a table break. He has around 13k and the blinds were 600/1200 (or maybe 800/1600). Either way I could use a double up and so could he. I’m dealt A7s in the BB. It folds to this guy on the button who raises to 2.5x the BB. I’m very tempted to stick him in, but rightly or wrongly I decide to call, figuring he will bet any flop if checked to him. At this stage I believed I had just enough to call and fold post flop and still be just about OK. The A flops and I check to induce the shove that duly comes. I insta-call, only to find myself behind to AT. A rivered 7 sorts me out though and I have around 30k and am now above average chips and feeling good.

There’s now about 15 players left with only 6 getting paid, but things tighten up at the table with the exception of one guy who is stealing liberally. He makes it 5k to go with blinds 800/1600. I find 55 in the SB and have the guy covered – just. Given how often he’d been raising I didn’t credit him with a monster. I shoved over the top confident that he wouldn’t call with anything but a monster. He agonised for a full three or four minutes, which when he’s staring you down and you only hold 55 is like a lifetime. Eventually he folds. We spoke before the FT and he told me he had AJ – exactly the kind of hand I thought he’d lay down.

Blinds are now 1k/2k and it’s the FT bubble. There are 5 players on the table, and all but one shorty have similar stacks to mine and seem to be happy to make the FT, so I’m looking to get a bit aggro PF and take pots down regularly.

The loose MP limps, and I raise to 7k OTB with KTs fully expecting to take the pot there and then. MP calls however. The flop comes Qs 9s x. It’s checked to me and I fire 9k at the pot, leaving me with about 19k. Again I fully expect to take the pot there and am surprised and confused to be called. What does this guy have that he can limp/call and check/call at this stage?? The turn is a blank and it’s checked to me again. I have no idea where I am, except that I have a gutshot draw and that with 19k left behind I’m short but by no means out of it, so I check behind.

The turn is the glorious offsuit jack. MP insta shoves and I insta call knowing that I have the stone nuts. He shows KJo for 2nd pair, that is no match for my K high straight. I now have 79k of the 255k in play and am chip leader.

We then break before starting the FT.

There was only 8 players at the FT as someone bust on the other table at the same time I bust the guy on our table. I have 79k, another guy has 75.5k with no-one else above 30k.

The FT starts as a push fest with the stacks moving alarmingly – apart from mine as I’m card dead again and don’t need to get involved with doubling other players up.

Two players get knocked out in no time and we’re ITM!!! My first ever live cash at the 5th attempt. This is no time to start celebrating that though as I’m 2nd with around 65k and in great shape.

The guy who started the FT on 75k has blown up totally and is left with 2.5k with blinds 3k/1.5k. He’s in the BB all in and its folded to me in the SB with 64s. Easy call, but I’m not so pleased he had A6 to have me dominated. I wanted him out, not because he was a threat and I was in dire need of his chips but because he had bad BO!!!!!

I can’t recall the exact board but a rivered straight knocks him out and we’re down to 5 and I have around 70k.

Two hands later I have JJ in the CO. BB has around 7k so I make my standard raise to 8k to put him all in. My JJ holds up against A5 and we’re down to 4 with me on 80k.

By this time there is quite a crowd around the table. It’s about 7.30pm and the players for the 8pm £50 tournament are milling around and watching out table. It turns out that the other players are all regulars and no-one knows who this unknown with the big stack is (as this was the first time I’d ever set foot in this casino). My very presence at the FT, never mind with that stack, was causing a bit of a stir.

On the next hand I get JJ again. I raise to 8k as is standard. Shorty in SB shoves for about 12k more. This I’m pretty happy about. The BB also shoves to make it 50k, which I’m not so happy about. There’s 78k in the pot and its 42k more to call. BB has been pretty active and trying to bully both on the FT and my previous table. I think I’m flipping so with those odds its another easy call.

SB has Q8 and BB AsKs. I need to dodge an A,K or Q and spades and I’m heads up with a chip lead. The flop is rags, but with two spades. BB has 15 outs on me but I manage to dodge these and get heads up. I’ve bust four players in four hands and there’s now a lot of activity around the table!!

I now have around 140k vs 115k HU. The other guys asks if I want to chop. I say not evenly. 1st place is £350 and second £180. He suggests we take £250 each and play for the remaining £30.

I agree, although I probably shouldn’t have – I think the occasion and peer pressure got to me a little.

It’s all over after a few hands. I chip away to get to around 160k when I’m dealt 6h7h in the BB with blinds 4k/2k. Villain raises to 12k and I call. The flop is glorious – all hearts for a flopped flush. I check and the villain goes all in. Obviously I insta call and he’s drawing dead with no heart in his hand.

And that was it. My first live win, and to cap it off with 30 or 40 people watching, many of whom I’d played (and in some cases bust) earlier that day.

I ran pretty good at times, getting lucky is some big pots. But, on the flip side I was card dead for the majority of the time and was only all in behind once (although I was close to all in and behind another time). I never got AA,KK or QQ and got AK once, AQ once and AJ twice the whole day. So while I got lucky with some outdraws I was really pleased with the way I played overall, especially stealing only for around two hours to keep myself afloat. I know that with what is going on in Vegas right now this is a tiny win in the grand scheme of things, but it meant a hell of a lot to me to win this.

Suffice to say – I’ve had a massive grin on my face ever since!!!

[sharrack]

Great result and a nice report, well done

I play my first live tournament tonight at my local casino where i play cash regulary. Cant wait!!!

Again nice job mate

[krazytxan]

SWEET!!

CONGRATS!!

[irishiain]

Nice report, congrats!

[janeg]

Well done Scully, congrats

[Taardvark]

Well played sir. Nothing like the adrenaline rush of your first live win.

[Stew21]

Good for you, Scully!

Just the first of many!

[kinnipak]

Congrats! The first of many to come....

[maf66]

Congrats Scully. I love reading reports like these.

[Scully]

[kw]

Awesome Scully! Thanks for the great report.

[poker_Elmo]

Congrats Scully! Nice win!

[darvon]

Congratulations.

[Radford]

Congrats!

[Scully]

Well I tried to repeat my feat again tonight and unfortunately came up a little short.

101 runners today in a £15 straight freezeout, with 7k starting stacks. I felt that I played pretty well and had above average stack pretty much the whole tourney. I slipped back to average when we got down to two tables but maintained just above average until I was moved with 15 left.

1st hand on that table I raised from the button with A7s into a shorty BB who called with QQ. I didn't improve and was down to just below average at around 50k but with crippling blinds of 8000/16000. I maintained this for a couple of orbits until it was folded to my SB where I had KJ. I put another shorty BB all in for around 25k. He called with K4 and a 4 on the turn crippled me.

At this point there were 12 players left and winning that hand gives me about 70k with 11 left (9 places paid) and the average would have been 60k-ish. Having played with everyone left in the tourney I was pretty confident that, with even luck, I could have made and then had a decent run at the final table.

As it was I was down to 27k and the two guys to my right had large stacks and everyone to my left was 30-40k. I knew that any shove into the big stacks is called so I wanted to get all in first in with any two against the other guys. In this tourney (and all live ones I've played) an M of 5 is seen as still being competitive (?!?!?!?!) so I figured I had a little fold equity and against the shorties.

Anyway, two hands later I open shoved for my 27k (so M just over 2) and ran into QQ and AKs and that was that - bust in 11th two off the money. Someone may have bust at the same time on the other table as there was a lot of commotion going on - I didn't hang around for long to find out though as there was no difference whether I finished 10th or 11th - it sucked either way!!

I felt I played well tonight - better than Saturday when I won. I didn't suck out all night and up until the last hand when I was desperate, never had my chips in behind. In fact I don't recall losing a showdown until the KJ<K4 hand.

I'm starting to think there's some real value in these, if only I had the time to play more of them!!!