As for the Q9 again…. by that stage of the game you had them running scared. Thats why I would have raised them.

You should get a differing opinion on the game as we, the viewer are kind of watching a ‘WPT show’ with just the selected highlights, so we don’t know the real story of the game. Don’t get me wrong, your commentary helped as you explained the situations as much as you could, but its still not the same as seeing the game in its entirety. In saying that, I think you edited it well for your viewing public!

One thing that has sorta been overlooked, unless I missed it, is that Blag had the stack to push in those information bets. Without a decent stack we all have to play a little more passive and therefore fold some hands that might have drawn out.

Lol.. how many times do yah want me to raise with that hand.. to be honest mate i had just come off like 4 or 5 hands of pushing strong and just thought I’d give them a breather.. If yah over-push they will just throw it all in at yah eventually.. and Q9 ain’t that good a hand

No way on the 92.. sheesh.. lol even I have my limits on open book.. that was a BB I was on and it was checked to me..

Pretty nice synopsis there Gordon, stole my thunder.. now what am I gonna write in the next blog entry?

Interesting to get the views coming in though and how they differ or not etc..

Before the game started you explained what you were going to try and do – DOMINATE! You had your mind set on your startegy. I don’t know if it was because it was a low buy-in and so you knew what the play would be like to go with this strategy. You can tell us!

First hand – Q 10 – folded in early/mid position as you didn’t know what the players would be like. Good decision. A lot of people would play this hand, but it’s not really worth it when theres a distinct possibility of a raise after you. As you said, you didn’t have a handle on anyone at the table.

Taking notes on players. Very good advice. You never know when you will meet them again. Just remember that by the next time you meet them they could have improved. THEY might have watched the video and recognised the game!

You pushed strong hands hard, with what some consider as overbets preflop. But if the other players don’t have that good a hand, 99% of the time they will fold.

A7 suited – folded in mid position. Good fold. Too many players will play any Ace, and particularly any Ace suited and come a cropper to a higher kicker. Being suited means very little. OK, A7 could be a raising hand during short handed play.

66 – limped in after a couple of callers. Good move, especially as it cost you next to nothing to see the flop with pot odds of 7/1. Nothing hit for you so easy fold.

10 J off – You called this on the button and after a flop of 4AA it was checked around to you. You raised after a good read that if someone had hit the flop they would have bet out. Easy pickings at this stage!

10 10 – UTG you raised 8x the BB and got one caller. A good fold after the J on the flop was bet. A lot of people would have called just in case the next card happened to be a 10, but the odds of it happeneing are very low.

It was at this point that I noticed that you had a handle on all the players at the table. You knew the monkeys that were left, and you knew the tight players that could be dominated because of their tight play.

A couple of the next few hands were where mistakes were made. Holding 86off you checked after the flop with a straight draw handing the advantage to the other player. However, you knew you had made the wrong play. After he bet out you were wise enough to fold. The very next hand you hit the check button by accident after hitting top pair, but got lucky that a low card hit on the turn giving you a second chance to take the pot down – which you did.

Then came three Q9 hole crads in a row. Played the first two great then hit that check button by mistake on the 3rd hand. This just goes to show that you were doing too much at once – playing the game while recording and giving the voiceover!

77 UTG – Pocket 7s aren’t that great a hand, and I might have folded this instead of limping in. But after the raises after you you folded without losing very much. Definately not worth a call after the raise and caller.

You folded a few dodgy hands after this and commented on it too. You are correct in what you said – no point in loosing chips when you don’t need to.

JJ on the button. Bet big to put the remaining monkey all in… and he obliged with J9. Very good read on him.

At around this stage you know that you can bully the table and you did so, betting mid and bottom pairs – even just with information bets, but that was enough to get the others to fold.

52off – Why did you fold this??? Its a great hand! Only joking! As you know its one of my favourite hands but only for limping in on the blinds. A no-brainer fold in your position.

Q9 (again!) on the button. You limped in here with no callers in front of you. With just the blinds to go I would have raised them.

Near the end of the game I noticed how many connecting hands you played. You also noted that there was no need for the big bets at this stage. 4x the BB raises still looked like big bets to the others. Good strategy. Information bets are always useful and you played them quite a bit throughout the tournament. If someone came with you, at least you had sense to play cautious. You didn’t try to push them off the hand which could have been costly.

Heads up, you were very eratic with your betting. This worked a treat as I think you really had the other guy totally lost. You did play a 92off at one stage heads up when you didn’t really need to.

Lastly, the one thing I did notice was that you NEVER should you hand no matter if you had a winner or a bluff/semi-bluff. Why give players an advantage of any kind.

I think you played the game almost perfectly. Fair enough you did get your fair share of playable hands but you took down many pots with what I would call ‘middle-of-the-road’ hands. I think your success here was mainly down to the read you had on the players at the table at a very early stage. Through this you knew when to push and when to slow down.
In the end it looked rather easy, or should I say, you made it look very easy. A great learning tool mate for all novice/intermediate poker players. Now I’m off to see what others have written!