Satellite Success
We started this afternoon’s satellite for the main event with 16 runners, each with 1500 chips. We estimated there would be 3 seats up for grabs, with a £50 double add-on at the break.
Last year when I played this I played very tight, didn’t get too involved and really only started to play after the break. At that point blinds are 100-200, so if you have 1000 of your original stack left over and you add-on, you now have 4000 to play with, which is not exactly life-support.
Not this time tho, the table was very tricky and limpy, everyone wanting to play flops and re-raise with middle-pair etc. I got involved a bit early and didn’t really know where I was, which wasn’t great, and I was forced to re-buy. However, from there things went my way…
I’d played my second 1500 up to around 2500, when I picked up jacks. There was a small raise, and a call, and I could either shove the lot, or see a flop. I didn’t want to be one of those who re-buy, shove, re-buy, shove etc, and I figured I could build a stack form where I was, so I decided to see the flop and bang it in if there were no pictures. Well, there weren’t any pictures. The first guy shoved all-in, the second player folded, and I obviously called. Sadly, the first guy had kings. Happily, the turn was a jack 
I now had around 7000 and was pretty comfortable. The KK guy actually had aces, kings and jacks beaten at this first table.
So, from there I was picking and choosing, no need to get involved in the endless shove-rebuy-shovefest that the end of the rebuy period becomes, but there were still some opportunities and I grew the stack to 10k by the break, so 13k with the double add-on. Given that I’d have been alright with 4k-6k, I was now really thinking that all I needed to do was nurse the stack thru to the final table and one of the final 3 spots, no risk-taking required.
One guy actually re-bought often enough that he’d invested £250 to try to win a £500 seat, not the greatest economics.
We got to a final table fairly quickly, and I had about 17k, having taken no risks and picked spots to pick up cheap chips. I did bust one or two, but not in any particularly spectacular ways. On the final table I had the big stack by a fair distance. Our table had been aggressive, and there had been a lot of rebuys, but the other table was more passive, so the stacks were smaller. I would say that the next guy behind me had about 12k.
We were 10-handed at the final table. I didn’t need to win, or move up the money ladder, I just needed to finish in the top 3, therefore it’s a very different strategy to a ‘normal’ final table. It’s all about avoiding risk, surviving etc. I raised early with a couple of nig hands, including aces, and no-one wanted to clash with me. It whittled down fairly quickly – I busted 2 guys. First, a guy raised my big-blind from the cut-off, and I flat-called with AK. I did this because I have no need to get into a coin-flip and lose a big chunk of my stack, when I can comfortably coast thru, so I’d rather know I am ahead when the money goes in, if it has to. I missed the flop, and checked, preparing to throw it away if he bet. However, he checked behind and the turn card was an ace. I now believed I should be ahead, and that he would bet big if I checked – he didn’t have a huge stack and couldn’t really afford to check-it down all the way and lose. He moved all-in and I called. The ace had left him with middle pair and a flush draw, so I had to avoid any more hearts or 9’s, with 1 card to come. No help for him, and he departed, with my stack now well in the 20k’s.
The second bust-out was odd. The small-blind, who had around 5k, flat called my 1600 big-blind from the small-blind. I had 10-6off, and I decided to check, so that if he was trapping with a big hand I wouldn’t lose much. The flop came 10-high. He pushed all-in, now I have to call, and he showed 10-3. He was unlucky enough that the river was a low card so no split-pot, but what a weird way to play the hand. With 10-3 in the small-blind, short-stacked against the big stack, you surely either fold it or shove all-in on the steal? 10-3 cannot be a hand to see a flop with…
Then we messed around for a while until eventually we got down to 3, with no drama on my part. My plan from the moment I turned the jack to beat the guy’s kings was to nurse that stack thru to the final 3 with no risk and no drama, and I was pleased that this is exactly how it turned out.
The Main Event is on Saturday afternoon, concluding on Sunday. Next for me is the £150 freezeout tomorrow night, with a £25 bounty. That’ll be it for me before the Main, due to work, so here’s hoping I can turn this successful table time into a good result there. It’s nothing major yet, but it’s a start after a while away from the tables…