APAT Dublin

(Pic Courtesy of APAT forum)

Well, Saturday morning arrived and I drove up to Dublin and Booked into my Hotel. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I decided I would walk to the card club. However after checking the time, I realised I was a little behind schedule, so hopped into a Taxi. It was then a queue for registration, which lasted about 10 minutes. I had a brief walk around the card room to get my bearings, and see if there were any familiar faces. Nobody familiar, so I go to to the nearest cash point, and also spot the nearest pub (where all the APAT'ers are hanging out). On my return I wonder over to the pub where I meet Technolog as well as some of the Dublin APAT'ers. There's time for a quick pint and then its a wander off back to the card room.

We queue for registration, and we have to pick our card with table and seat number. I do my usual stunt of not picking anything near me, so its Table 4 , Seat 5. I wonder up to my table, and mutter aah, ffs, when I see none other than Lucas73J(Richard King) at Table 4 Seat 4. I also see Donna (TeaCup) who's at another table.

The tournament begins, and theres one player who appears to be in almost every pot, triple barrelling a lot of hands. Any check and he bets. I win my first big pot of the day when I bluff Mr aggressive off a pot on a board with paired J's with 78o. I then limp into a pot with pocket 3's and the button limps and the big blind raises. I decide to set mine, and am praying for a 3 on the flop, and I must have prayed really hard 'cos the flop came 3Spades 5Hearts 3Hearts. The next thing is to figure out, how to get paid. The BB puts in a continuation bet of T$2000. I decide to take my time, and eventually just call. The turn is a 7Hearts which obviously brings flush and straight flush possibilities. The BB checks, I decide to put in a weak looking bet of T$1000. I am check raised all in and call after quickly discarding the straight flush possibility. So a great start.

I then am in a big pot against mr aggressive where he triple barrells and I have no better than middle pair with a weak kicker. After deciding I am still way above average stack even if I lose, I think it's worth looking Mr aggressive up, and I turn over my Ten and he insta mucks. I'm now up to about T$23000 so everything going very nicely. Then I get cold decked. I raise with AK in late position and get reraised by one of the blinds. I decide, we're deep stacked so no point shoving all in, so elect to see a flop. The flop comes with an A. The blind shoves and I insta call. He has AA for a set with my Top pair top kicker nowhere to be seen. So a bit of a hit taken, but I'm still in decent shape. I then make a bad play, raising with K5s and calling a 3bet. I continue on an Ace high board,after hitting the K. Finally I bet about 4K on the river, and am shoved upon, so have to fold. I'm now really annoyed with myself for making such a bad play. I'm down to less than 10K. I manage to win a few small pots, building back up to T$17,000. I then decide to raise with A4o, theres a caller and then theres a shove from one of the shorter stacks. I think he's a decent player and could be making a move, so decide to move all-in myself to isolate. The limper folds. Its my A4s(spades) vs ATs(clubs). I manage to spike a 4 and knock the player out.

This puts me up to T$30,000. I then have QQ against a shorties KK and its all-in preflop and KK hodls. The very next hand I get dealt KK and reraise against a raiser, and he folds. I was hoping he thought I was on Tilt, but no such luck, but still managed to get 1/2 my chips back. Richard then decides to limp in from Sb, I'm in BB and decide to raise with A3s. He calls. I put in a bet which looks more like a value bet than a continuation bet and Richard folds. Richard and I then have a huge confrontation. Richard Raises, I reraise with 77 and Richard elects just to call. He then shoves the T86 flop, I tank , and eventually decide to call. He turns over AQ and the turn is a J but the river is a 9 so he wins with the higher straight. Argggh.

I'm a little short stacked now. I shove 44 which gets through thanks to me still having just over 17K behind. I then raise on the button with AQo and the BB reraises. I haven't been doing much blind stealing (if any). I ask for a chip count, which he syas I can't have. I say, "Yes I can", and get the count. I'm down to 8K if I lose, which is no fold equity but it would be a nice addition to my stack if I win. This guy hasn't restolen off me, I've been fairly tight, so I decide to lay down the AQ. I think the right decision, as he asked how much he would have needed to have to make me shove all in. I gave him the truthful answer that I didn't know. I get a couple of shoves through, but eventually go really short stacked when I shove 48o when folded too in sb and am looked up by the BB with ATs. I then shove QJo into AKs and thats the end of my tournament.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and will certainly try and play this again next year