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SkyPokerTour 2011 Final - put your stories/experience here
After another hard-working 3 weeks on the rig, I returned back to dry land on thursday, missing the countdown to the best weekend of my calendar. A quick supper and bath before playing the 8pm Bounty Hunter and managing my first cash for about 87 weeks in the main event, my somewhat-shattered confidence got a much needed tiny boost. An early night around midnight a few hours sleep before Donnie (LLCoolD) picked me up at 6am to begin our mammoth journey.
Speeding along the A96, across the Dava Moor, we soon find ourselves hurtling down the A9 swapping poker-related stories and hopes for the weekend. We manage to arrive at ballinluig just as the staff are opening, so i manage my first 5 cigarettes of the day while Donnie wolfs down 3 breakfasts (i could swear he can rival dylan and gregdonk). Traffic is quiet and the A9, soon becomes the M74 as we cross the border at lunchtime Mr Navigator is busy texting and facebooking b4 looking up and seeing the sign for our lunch service station. EEEEEk, We're in England so stop of briefly at Carlisle(3 KFCs for Donnie, 5-6 cigs for me), before turning of the M6 and heading cross-country to Scotch corner. Once we reach the M1A1M1A1M1A1 fffssss traffic is busy and with lots of roadworks we take our final pitstop at Leeds/York and realise we are in a foreign country with lots of strange accents. Donnie grabs a couple of BurgerKing meal-deals while i finish off what remains of the 20-deck i opened at ballinluig.
Before we know it, we approach Nottingham. I take a look out my window, away form my mobile and see a hotel............"donnie, whats our hotel called?" "gateway" " we just passed it". Heading straight to DTD to register at 3pm, Donnies TomTom packs in so we rely on memory. Its over there somewhere I say, looking up once again from my phone, quick spin at roundabout and we arrive to an empty car-park..................Its not open til 7!!!!!!!
So we head back to the hotel............WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!! Its got 2 ponds and 3 fountains 
now, everyone knows the Scots love fountains..........I casually tell Donnie that im diving in the pond later this evening. A quick chillax , and its down to reception for 3 burger n chips (donnie did let me have one this time) , a couple of beers and a couple games of pool. We flipped a coin for break, donnie won ( i aint won a flip since 2010) and i casually remark "thats the only flip you'll win or I'll lose this weekend".
now, everyone knows the Scots love fountains..........I casually tell Donnie that im diving in the pond later this evening. A quick chillax , and its down to reception for 3 burger n chips (donnie did let me have one this time) , a couple of beers and a couple games of pool. We flipped a coin for break, donnie won ( i aint won a flip since 2010) and i casually remark "thats the only flip you'll win or I'll lose this weekend".After giving Donnie a lesson, we head of to the Britannia Hotel to meet some of the others.. Here we find Dan Made2Donk, HappyNige and their gorgeous partners as well as forum legends scouse chris and mike DTW. a quick drink and its taxis to DTD
On arrival, some strange lady says "hi Dave" and i reply "hi2 not knowing who it is..............turns out it was the lovely and gorgeous and fun samantha25....oops
Quickly through the doors, and its great to see so many familiar faces and swap stories with all the gang, as well as meeting some new acquaintances. The Friday night tourny is never taken seriously by me, I'm there on the Friday purely to get wasted But i gladly give my £20 donation and am in my stride pwning my table before getting a bit frisky with 84c and getting a customer. Flop comes 2-5-6 double clubbed..............I'm such a rack putting in my C-bet , villain jams on me.....eek...........and i know this looks ugly as heck, but it is an instacall. Villain shows A4 (???) and as i never hit, half my stack goes bye-bye. The perils of 3-betting pre with 8-4 I guess. Clawing away, im still around average stack when i find myself in a 3-way all-in with QQ versus AQ and shorties 7-8s.........obviously i finish 3rd in this hand..............so its off to the bar
But i gladly give my £20 donation and am in my stride pwning my table before getting a bit frisky with 84c and getting a customer. Flop comes 2-5-6 double clubbed..............I'm such a rack putting in my C-bet , villain jams on me.....eek...........and i know this looks ugly as heck, but it is an instacall. Villain shows A4 (???) and as i never hit, half my stack goes bye-bye. The perils of 3-betting pre with 8-4 I guess. Clawing away, im still around average stack when i find myself in a 3-way all-in with QQ versus AQ and shorties 7-8s.........obviously i finish 3rd in this hand..............so its off to the bar Ian Frazer is busy buying drinks and putting them on made2donks bar bill , happy days....I meet young-gun and hitman, as well as many others.............sing a few songs allegedly and then head home sober (ish by my friday standards) to the hotel.
Saturday morning and I am death.com, the lady at reception tells me Tesco is only 70 yards down the road so a staggered half-hour later i'm refuelling with cash, nicotine and lucozade for the long (or short) day ahead. donnies TomTom again fails to kick in , so after a detour around Nottingham we arrive around 1pm and the place is heaving.......a few chats and I am turning green, so make my excuses and head to the old nightclub for a sit on the steps and a bit of fresh air and to say hi to my friend Hughie.......Returrning just in time to take my seat next to DannyMcs on table xx and I'm ready to just go home......suddenly i perk up...........Dan Brown arrives and he looks worse than anything ive ever seen!!!! Im suddenly sober wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
Cant really remember much about the first 3-4 levels, staying around the average for most of this period and settling into my table. after the previous nights frolics, i decide to leave the frisky game to the youngsters and return to my usual tight tight tight solid game. A few well-timed 3-bets when 2 call original raise, and some nice raises on flops take me to around level 8 and I've only shown one hand and that was KK. My table rep is a ROCK!!! Bit of controversy on the table as 1 player is put on the clock by the dealer, he then flips his cards and asks opponent if want a call.......eventually calls with Ace-hig into the flush, oops, unlucky, and is given a 1-orbi penalty for showing his cards................its break time so hopefully the table can move on......couple of shove-monkeys arrive on the table , and after 3-betting all-in on me 2 hands in a row, I decide to gamble on hand 3 with my AQ, villain shows AJ (better than i thought tbh) and i hold..........table breaks shortly after.
moved to table with Donnie and a chipped-up Carlo citrone..........Carlo is busy swapping tanning tips with the waitresses but i decide still not to get involved with him. Just before play breaks for the night , i defend my bb to buttons min-raise with KTs and flop top2, check-raise on the flop gets called and a scary ace on the turn is ugly..........All-In though, ive got outs if he has QJ, oppo folds for only 22k witjh pot 100k and i make it to day 2 slightly above average with 102k. A few smokes, a couple soft drinks and chat with the crew , donnie gives Jamie Burland and friend a lift back to their hotel via Derby.
Day 2, and another tour of nottingham with discussions on hopes etc, Donnie only has 34k so plans to get it in early and hope for double up, I'm in awkward place cos when im on both button and cut-off the bb is short-stacked so i know i could be shorted myself very quickly. First hand UTG raises, all fold to donnie who announces all-in, UTG calls with JJ and Donnie has the bullets.........fist card out is the Jack and its a speedy farewell to LLcoolD (ladies love cool Donnie???????). Carlo remarks a shame as he nursed and played his short-stack so well for about 5 hours on saturday.........a few more hands later and carlo does what i was afraid of doing and the shorties are doubled -up, we lose a player when AA holds versus Qq this time. not playing a hand during the first level of the day, i find a nice spot in the BB with my 99. Shorty is all-in for about 9k, Jamie Burland raises to about 20k, i decide im gonna shove for my 85k ahead of jamie in my thinking..........hold on a minute why is big blind making it 45k??? hmmmm, maybe im niot ahead of Jamie and at best im flipping with small-blind, i reluctantly fold.......jamie fold and shorties 66 holds versus SBs AK................grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Carlo, Jamie amongst others say its the correct fold and not to beat myself up about it, i know its the correct fold but cant stop thinking about it..........next orbit i find QQ and the chips go in against AK..................level 17/18 and im in my first flip.....fingers crossed.......boom first card K..........flop K-T-x...........the J on the turn gives my hope but the river bricks another ten and its good night vienna............hold on says carlo you got him covered.........hmmmm im in small blind and not enough to make up , button min raises i call blind and carlo calls.............Carlo flops a str8 , couple rounds betting and carlo takes the side pot, I turn my cards 2c...........9c wiiiiii a flush and im back up to 20k wooooooooooooo. All-in on the button, my 10-6 is taken care of by A-3, and im out to rail the lovely yorkie74.
A great performance by sian in finishing 7th and a terrific win for ljamesl , especially as he started the day 51/57 with only approx 38k. Well worth noting that this years winners on the tour were Lewis BrownDog, wayne Gliter, Adam Bronmley4, Jamie hurst5 and James llllllll williams, I cant remember luton..............Surely a terrific and worthy set of champions?????
Thanks to all at Sky for another successful tour, a fantastic final, and a memorable weekend. Great effort as usual by Tikay, Lisa-Marie, Tighty, blandy, Claire and all the others.
Also huge thanks to all at Dusk Til Dawn for putting up with us, and making us all feel welcome. I especially enjoyed when Shadi, Ryan and Danny were dealing on my tables and also Rebecca and the rest of the waitresses and bar-staff for their smile-on-face attitude. Thank you Mr Trumper for making us all feel welcome and we look forward to your hospitality next year
Jaegerdonk
Mr Pilling 
Comments
Saturday Main Event I never got above starting stack (frustration.com) and in level 6 I finally found a hand, AQ with 8BB in it goes and Sky Adam snapped with KK, Sian had just survived when her 55 v 99 binked a 5, little did i know.......
Sian built up a decent stack and made day 2 in 33rd place with 76K in chips, I won a late SNG for £50 so I bought myself in to the Sunday Super 50 tournament.
Sian's aim was to make the money and she got the vital double up when her QQ ran into AT an amazing board contained action with each card....A Q J K K, her Queens full double to 150k
The bubble went and Sian was delighted to cash, i was playing the Sunday tournament and as it became clear Sian was going very deep i wanted to watch, my 77 beat GregHogg's AK but as Sian made it to the last 12 players I threw it all in with A5 and got the AJ call i wanted
Sian then doubled again when her KK beat A6 of M4verick, her 350K stack was now easily enough to get her to FT
Sian eventually succumbed to James W when her short stack JT shove failed to improve against 66 of eventual winner James and Sian was out 7th for £2400 wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
We scoffed my birthday cake from the lovely Bromleys and made it home to see James TID heads up!!
Fab Weekend!!!!!!! I had 50% of Sian so an easy £1200!!
Q high flop see's my C-bet min raised and I decide that he's got a Q and the resulting jammage to the retina see's him stack of with a Q with .......................a four kicker!!!!!!! Over my starting stack and on a roll. Table break see me with penguin7 two to my left. Some top table banter see's me call his eye jammin shove 3 bet with A 10, only for him to flip over 10 10. NH Tony. Another AK missed flop cbet called turn eye jam see's me take another big pot before I'm moved to a table adjacent to the toilets, which is a bonus as I can now go tinkle and only miss one hand instead of the hike from the far end of the Casino. Starting to get a proper stack and some well timed 3 bets and aggressive play see my stack start to climb. Another sb vs bb see's my C bet with A 10 called but the turn brings in my gutshot straight and I'm called again. The river 10 brings 4 to straight and my overbet of the pot brings a disgusted muttering from my oppo because he thinks I've gone runner runner to hit, but in reality I think it saved him a lot of chips. Another table move and I continue to play and stack up slowly and the last break of the evening comes. Come back to find we've been moved to the feature table. 33 mins till we break for the day and I have about 85,000 chips and starting to think I might even cash here. 29 minutes till we break and I have 24,000 chips after running QQ into AA and i'm thinking I might not even make day 2. Pick a few chips and the last hand of the night and the button raise from Barry Carter leaves me with a choice,fold and make day two with 6 bb's or throw the lot in the middle. Once again i chose the later. Barry asks for a count, ums and aaahs before folding, ignoring a massive tell that SkyDave has spotted from the rail. Smugly I turn over 64 suited at which point it's apparent the only person who didn't know I was bluffing was Barry himself. I adjourn to the bar and leave at closing time.
The next day and I return to the Casino looking and possibly smelling like a wino only to be informed that LML wants to interview me, don't think that'll make great TV!!!!! 9BB's and the button and my plan is to jam it if it's folded to me on the button. 7 folds and I pretend to look at my cards and I announce all in. Two swift folds and I collect the blinds and antes to move to 11 BB's. Next hand, 6 folds and I look down at AK suited and decide another all in is most likely to get a call. The BB MrKris says he'd like to look me up but folds and in 2 hands I've picked up 20,000 chips uncontested. I don't get many spots as it's shove fest from several fellow shorties but the one hand and my biggest regret/mistake/dufus move is to fold 33 from earlyish position when I was getting short again. It was an instant jam scenario and I mentally kick my self in the nuts for not doing it. A couple of hands later, utg and with the blinds going up next hand I decide that KQ is good enough to shove with only to get called by 10 10. 'gotta win your races' I declare and 10 on the turn takes away my overcard outs but gives me 4 outs for a jack to make a straight. Blank river and I'm out,13 short of the money. Siggghhh, say well played all and shake a few hands, all the time thinking that if I'd shoved the threes earlier and picked up the blinds and antes, I would've had another orbit to find a better spot. Lesson learned me thinks.
I say bye to the squaddies and friends(new and old) on the rail and and make the longish but hard journey home.
Thanks to all the DTD staff for running it so well, all the Sky staff for their hard work(made me sons day when he saw Daddy live on the computer) and finally thanks to all the players for an enjoyable tournament, banter,drinking, mickey taking and advice. 6 max SPT at the DTD beckons and I reckon I'm due a cash!!!!!!!!
regards,
Mohican.
We head back to my house to wait for taxi no sign of any planes in the sky so fingers crossed the fog lifts soon, taxi arrives we head for airport now our airport is no bigger then DTD and there are more people there then Heathrow on a bank holiday weekend.
The fog begins to lift we start to hear that sweet sound of engines and the race to DTD is back on, all the flights start to open our flight to East midlands hits the board only to say canceled. By this time I am shoving any two;; we ask if we can go on a stand-buy flight any where in uk 35mins later we hear 9 seats to Gatwick numbers is like usain bolt to desk were on the Gatwick flight. We board the plane just about to taxi to runway and I spot that the door to the right engine is open i inform the steward who speaks to the captain next we see a van pull up to aircraft and the engineer close the door, captain tells steward to say thank you I am the hero and this isn't my flight.
We arrive in Gatwick and spend £78 on train's to St Pancreas and then train to Nottingham, the things we do to play poker, we finally arrive Nottingham at 8pm head to hotel quick wash and head for DTD we arrive at 9pm. We catch up with a few faces as the tourneys have all begun so we have a few cups of tea in the bar and leave at about 4am.
Saturday we have breakfast and head to DTD tourny starts shuffle up and deal I have average stack whole day go through the levels we hit level 12 just get this one done and we are back Sunday oh no play down to 60 level 14 after the day we have had, ok so we have half of level 12 left and 80 mins stay awake. I pick up QQ on the button raise 2 1/2 times BB I get 3-bet by guy that has small stack I think he wants action but I cant fold QQ I set him in he rolls over JJ wee 594 rainbow k turn J river, I have 12BB left 3 hands later I pick up QQ folded to me I shove new player at the table just has me in chips calls A10o sweet J69 A I have already got up and heading to the Bar.
Patrick makes it to day 2 featured table 59 left with a bowl of rice picks up JJ then QQ and into AA rail but we had a fantastic weekend meet some great people and will try and make future events all the best
Andy
Loving all of your blogs so thought i will do my own zzzzz
Ok of to my first DTD having never met anyone before from sky, but i do talk alot on IM with a few so i have arranged to pick up delaney09.Trip down was pretty standard by standard i mean my new tom tom taking us down the Dartford Tunnel toll twice so had to pay £1.50 twice lol, although it probably was my fault anywho. Rest of the journey was fine had a stop at the service station so we can get some KFC and Del'sleg can have a breather, then we hit alot of traffic going into nottingham so we were just putting any of my random cd's which del wouldconfirm they're not pretty. Managed to find the Travel lodge in City Central but there was no car park which we could see so ended up parking further then we should have baring in mind Del's dodgy leg. 15 minutes walk and he is in agony there was me wishing i had dropped him of when we went past our hotel, oh well we wasn't to know.
So we check in i get showered and we book a taxi for 7.15, we get to DTD and someone greeted us on the entrance which was Maxally and then some other person i did not recognise which i then got told it was Made4donk! While queing up for Reg i meet a few players the infamous Hogg and a few others i was 18th in reserve for the evening tourney so had a couple of bevvies at the bar. Get seated in the most fixed table ever!
i dont really remember much of the night other then Ian Frazer offering tobuy round but Dan M4G says no he'll pay so Ian orders approx 20 Jaegerbombs for everyone lol £80 unlucky M4G and we thought you ran good?
Diggerman to my left, GB other half to his left, Maxally his left, Hoggers his left, GB dad, Glitterbabe, to my right had couple of youngsters. Cant really remember much of the tourney as i wasnt in long kept trying to outplay GB when he always had it but he was kind enough to show, the one notable hand vs HOggers i managed to give him a few chips with 99 on 10J8 board or something similar but he checks river so i check
behind, not really a tough table but i just kept trying to outplay GB note to self why?? so i bust and ended up at the bar with M4G,Dave hitman and a few others inc Jaegerplop who was even more drunk then meee
I wake up 10am on saturday well get woken up by a annoyed Del who didnt manage to get any kip because of my snoring oops sorry buddy
Cant remember what i done up till reg time as i was still pretty drunk, eventually sobering up around 6pm midway through the main tourney.
I arrive again meet a few people i havent already spoken to but looked like death(literally), get a nice table with Wesley(F_Ivanovic) to my left
Sky Adam 2 to his left, Solack to his left, a few to his left was Solarcarro and some nutter Geezer1986 and a lady to my right who i forget but
is well known on sky sorry. first 6 levels i have no cards higher then A6 or pockets higher then 44, managed to bluff my stack up to 20k, Wes
was also pretty active and the only one really playing pots with me which was fun.
Table changed then i am to the left of Scouse Red, Dr Marbles also on my table which was pretty aggro he shoved a few times showing QJ suited,
he shoves my BB i have approx 24k, him 11k blinds 400/800 i think, i say im calling as its you i must be ahead I show A10hh he shows Q10ss
Flop Qh xh ewww i must hit surely and on turn i hit the nut flush wiiiii im on my way, i then get in a pot i 4 bet someone with KK which they
fold so up to approx 45k. I then try get a bit more active but the rest of the table wasnt having it so had to sit tight and wait for my spot
i blind down to around 30k am moved tables blinds 1k/2k and opening raise from person i havent played but he was very loud and noticeable so
i shove my KdQx, then i get snapped by 11xx new tsp player who had been tight on my previous table so i knew i was in trouble then original
raiser calls with A9 TSP player QQ oops, i ended up hitting 4 diamonds for K high flush for a nice and needed triple up
I move to another table to my left David Jaegerbomb and a few others Gixxer i open raise EP, someone shoves approx 20-25k Gixxer calls with
around 12k i think, im looking at A10 suited again and figure im ahead of opening shovers range and would win enough in side pot to call
they show 66 intial shover Gixxer 99, flopped the 10 so no panic and up to around 140k-150k. I immediately get moved to another table and
the dealer had to take my chips as i had a few things to carry i dont even think it was a couple of orbits and ben nuttal(nutter) raises EP
to 6k, i re-raise to 13.5k with Queens, he then makes 30k, i ask how much he has behind says around 30k so i shove all in he thinks and says
im commited so have to call with AKhh must have thought i could have AA/KK? anyway for 150k+ pot he hits AK bother on flop for good measure
im down to around 40k and on button shove A10dd into QQ gg out in 67th but throughly enjoyed and if my Queens held id be a big stack day 2.
Again we stay in the Bar till 6am me, Maxally, Hitman, Delaney to name a few. I'll leave at there for now