The Victoria Grosvenor £750 Event

By Keith Walls - October 2004

Ok, I'm small fry and I know it. Heck, bringing the £25 for the monthly freezeout at my local game in Slough normally means taking a hammer to the piggybank or a rifle round the sofa cushions. But it does help to teach me to only play top starting hands, play them aggressively and more importantly play them well! I can handle chips, I’ve won the £5 rebuy at the Slough ‘Palace’, I can read a player, make a bluff and lay down when I have to it – nothing to it. I keep telling myself -just do what you know you can do, play your normal game….

‘Would all players please take their seats for tonights £750 no limit championship’

I stop staring into the mirror, wash my hands for the fifth time and finally leave the toilets where I’ve been hiding for 10 minutes trying to ‘gather’ myself. I'm at the Grosvenor Victoria casino and thanks to the GetMinted satellite I have a crack at winning the £50,000 first prize. I beat 135 players (bar one) to get here, only another 177 to go.

I’d lost the heads up on GM when my A8 was called by 88 – whoever won that hand would get the seat in Saturdays £3000 European Championship event. The only person happy about it was my girlfriend Hannah. We had booked to go to Paris on that weekend for the Ireland France world cup qualifier and she saw her romantic weekend (well, she thinks it will be romantic) going up in smoke as I got down to the heads up. But it wasn’t to be and the consolation (and what a consolation) is a seat in tonights £750 freezeout.

I took on board as much last minute advice as possible and fortunately two other Slough players had bought or won their way into the same tournament so I wasn’t completely alone. I make my way to table E seat 2 and start to analyse the opposition. I don’t have any recognisable stars on my table but over my shoulder I see Dave Colclough, Lucy Rokach and Ram Vaswani. We get 5000 in chips, blinds begin at 25-50 and go up every 45 minutes. Goal number one- win a pot, any pot, don’t care how big or small just get one under my belt. First hand is 89off in the SB, two limpers – sod it, I RAISE (in my commanding ‘don’t call my monster hand’ voice) 400 MORE. A couple of people complain about not being friendly on the first hand and checking and their cards go in the muck – Get in there! One hand down and Im up 125. A huge weight lifts off the shoulders.

There’s a very talkative American on the table – Ron ‘Mad Yank’ Farrelli. Sporting a look not too dissimilar to the biker from the Village People he is attempting a one man cabaret show. A raise by seat one to 800 and re raise and suddenly there is an all in situation. Seat one has AK, Mad Yank 99 – a 9 on the flop and I have achieved goal number two – Im not the first out. The hand brings me back down to earth, of course in a £5 game you call but this is £750! Do these guys not even care about the money ??? Im in way over my head, I need to get some chips and keep myself away from these 50-50s. I want to play as long as possible, not be back in the car before the engines cooled down.

Colclough is all in on the next table and gets knocked out. Well I lasted longer than ‘El Blondie’. Unfortunately just as I start to settle into it and feel more relaxed I get caught.
Q9 spades on the SB, I call for 25 more along with 5 limpers, flop is Js 8s 2d. I like this, flush draw, gutshot straight draw, gutshot straight flush draw and everyone calls my token bet of 150. Turn is Ks – oh yes, theres the flush, bring it on ! Seat one bets 1500 and its folded to me. I don’t put him on the Ace flush as I think he would have raised pre-flop with the ace, more likely he has the King or has hit two pair, I flat call. River is another K –damn. He checks (probably looking for me to bet into him), I check and he shows KJ for the house. Note to self : don’t call with garbage no matter how cheap. Ive just gone and given up 2000 of my 5000 in one hand – IDIOT !

Part 2

I see nothing for an hour. The blinds go up to 50-100 and Im down to 2000 and fading fast, the next good hand I find Im going all in. Mad Yank is in full flow “if you don’t raise I might have to bet 1000” he tells the 70 year old ‘rock’. The ‘rock’ calls MY raises to 1000 and ‘rock’ grumbles and complains. “Hey! Theres nothing wrong with a bit of moody talk and you don’t want to call with THAT hand anyway’. ‘Rock’ folds, moans to the cardroom manager about the behaviour of MY (who is ‘whooping’ away in true U.S of A fashion) and sulks back into his chair.

Im getting so depressed at looking down and seeing 62off, 73 off Q2 off that I feel like not even bothering anymore. Two hours Ive been here, played two hands and Im down to 2000, if I see one more lousy 2 Im gonna....HELLO QQ on the button!

Ok, deep breaths, don’t get excited, everythings cool, don’t give anything away. Three limpers of 100 and I raise 900. Its half my stack and I know, I just know that if Im being called Im being put all in. These guys smell fear, they know Im hanging on and this could be a desperate move to steal. BB stares me down, he raises 2000 more, everyone folds and this is it. I throw my last 900 in and show QQ and in true internet style its up against AK suited. My heart is pounding, ‘pleeease hold up for once’. First card on the flop is a Q and its effectively all over. I double up to 4500, almost back to how I started and Im back in the game. Calmly I leave my seat, nip into the toilets, let out a ‘GET IN THERE’ scaring the hell out of the poor toilet attendant and its back to my seat.

Youre a lucky boy’ says the caller. ‘You were lucky I didn’t have more chips!’ I reply. He cracks a smile, lets face it, he knows exactly how petrified I was, as does the rest of the table.

10pm and the tables are ‘split’. Bascially I was located in the small cardroom where there were five tables. Upstairs in the main restaurant area are 10 more and there have been enough ‘casualties’ to move all the card players into the one area. I have to draw a ticket for another seat and take my chips (4800) upstairs.

This short break is a godsend. Everyone on the table knows Im some small timer who can be bullied about and Im only holding on for top hands. But Ive had enough of the ‘hanging on’ game and now Im going to be on a new table with new faces and I can start again with a brand new table image. This time things are going to be different.
‘Z5 , Im in Z5’ waving the paper round my head. ‘Youre over there next to Padraig’ says the manager. ‘Cheers’. Padraig....Padraig.... good irish name, we might have something in common, maybe discuss the Ireland game, this is good omen.

Ahhhh, its Padraig Parkinson. Late Night Poker series 5 winner , third in the World Series in 1999 and so on and so on. Well let me tell you Parkinson that this is the new me, no more Mr Nice Guy, Im all out attack. For some reason (nerves) as I sit down I steal a phrase from Eugenes reportoire at the Slough Palace and ask Padraig ‘will you be defending your Big Blind tonight’? After a brief uncomfortable silence a Godfather lookalike in seat 7 starts laughing and everyone else has a little smile. PP grins and takes a sip of Guinness and I suddenly have a confident feeling for the first time in 3 hours.

I have the Godfather, PP, two very solid players, two loose cannons to be wary of and two pro cash players (Maltese Joe was the name of one of them) who are discussing what a drag it is to be in Ireland for the such and such festival and then having to get all the way to Amsterdam to play in the blah blah blah tournament. Now the last guy looks familiar, but I cant quite place him, got it! Its Michael Greco, Beppe from Eastenders, personally Im more of a Coronation Street fan but no matter.

Greco is my saviour, my ticket to a better life and higher chip stack. I have 2500 left when I find 10 10. I do my ‘raise half my stack’ trick and Greco puts me all in. I call and he shows A9, no ace and Im on 5000. The very next hand and I look down to find KK, now Im cooking. I raise 1000, Greco moves all in for his final 1700 and I call. Just for the sake of it I say ‘A9 again?’ ‘Yep’ and he shows exactly the same hand. ‘Thought so’ (like I had a clue!). I show the KK , it stands up and Im onto 8000 and Greco is off looking for a 10sec radio commercial to make up the £750 he lost – tough life !

Part 3

I am now invincible. The table has seen me play two good hands aggresively, Im putting the chips in with more confidence and Im chatting away with Maltese Joe and the other cash player. PP is playing superb and I catch sight of some of his cards (basically when I folded before him he would lift his cards higher, maybe on purpose so I could see them, I don’t know). He makes some unbelievable moves where he calls with 85 off and raises all in to a K J 7 flop getting two players to lay down. He raises at least three times on flops with nothing and takes every single one. Fortunately he is on my left and not betting into me because it was impossible to guess what he had.

Another hour passes and I see nothing but with 8000 in front of me Im not under pressure. Then an odd hand occurs due to a ruling I wasn’t aware off. I look down and find QQ again, excellent time to raise it up. Im in fourth position and when seat three folds PP announces all in and throws all his chips in the centre out of turn. I don’t know where I stand, the dealer looks at me and I ask for the ruling. The dealer says I can still bet what I want and the cash player to my right is asking for PPs chips to be counted but I don’t see the point. While a discussion begins over what should occur, I cut it short by telling the dealer ‘don’t worry about it, Im all in’ – end of discussion. PPs all in call still stands and everyone else folds. I have to admit I was worried by the call. I had this awful feeling of another AK v QQ. I had dodged one earlier on and I was due to get beat on the law of averages. He threw the first card up, its an ace, great, whats next ? it’s a Q! Im in front and a big favourite. The board misses and I double through to 15,000. The cash player to my right tells the table ‘it’s a waste of time calling this guy with your ace, that’s three he’s beaten already’. You are damn right mate! You will respect my raises!

Originally I was going to raise with the Queens to about 2000. There were still 7 players to act behind me and I was hoping that someone would either call and the flop would have no Ace or King, or I would be put all in. PPs all in meant that my decision was easy and if my QQ stood up I would have got all my chips in and doubled up which is what I wanted. Although the cash players comments about ‘not calling me with an ace’ was said in a serious way, the facts were that when I was getting my chips in I was not only in front but also a big favourite. Its just gone midnight and a 10 minute break is called. We are down to 75 players, over 100 are gone – but not me ! I have 15,000 chips and the average stack is 11,000.

Padraig goes out a few hands later when his KK is beaten by A9 and he walks off in the manner of a man who has seen it all before- personally I would have been livid !

Something else that was happening which I have never experienced before was the concept of rolling antes. After the blinds reached 150-300 every player (blinds included) had put in an additional 25 each. On a ten player table this meant there were 700 chips in the middle before a card was dealt so stealing pots pre-flop suddenly became the main aim for some players. As soon as the antes were introduced the average preflop raise went from 600 to 1200. It took me a while to get used to it, I was happy raising 600 with my AJ but now I had to put 1200 in to make it count and twice I was reraised all in. I had AJ for one of the reraises and A10 for the other – I laid both down. I wasn’t prepared to get into a flop race for my chips after I had got so far.

During the next 45 minute blind level (200-400 and a 50 rolling ante) there was one hand of note. The loose player in seat one flat called for 400. It was the first time I could remember seeing anyone flat call since the antes had begun. Maltese Joe studied his hand and made the minimum raise of 400 which was even more bizarre. You just knew that he had a monster but when the action came back round to the loose player he raised 1600?? The other players on the table started laughing because it was obvious both players were trying to get the other one in. Maltese Joe put on a full display of acting skills that Greco would have found difficulty to match as he hummed and sighed and played with his chips over and over. Finally the inevitable ‘All in’ came and loose guy called in a flash – it had to be aces and it was. Everyone turned to Joe and he slunk into his chair, ‘is it Kings Joe’ ‘nope, worse’ and he threw up both cards – Aces as well ! I had never seen it before. ‘Its an internet hand’ shouted seat 4 and we started laughing. Loose guy soon shut up though when 3 spades appeared and he nearly got his aces cracked by an ace flush, but it was a split pot.

Now everyone was on the steal. All ins were being shouted across the room as players started to take their chances. In no time at all there were only 60 left and tables were being closed as the other seats became vacant. I wasn’t seeing a hand but with 15,000 it wasn’t too bad. I managed to raise a pot on the button and take it just to keep myself healthy.

Part 4

Blinds were now up to 300-600 and a rolling ante of 50 chips. With 10 players at the tables that meant 1400 was in the pot before a card was dealt and 1400 was the amount you were losing every round if you didn’t win a hand. Looking around at the other players the plan I had was to try and get doubled up and hit the 20,000+ mark. To make the money you needed to be in the last 18 and that would guarantee you £1000, my theory was that 25,000 would comfortably make the money and it would have also made me chip leader on the table.

But the best laid plans and all that…..

In early position I raised 3000 with A10, hopefully no callers or re raise but the BB called. The flop comes 10 J J and the BB acts first. I stared him at hoping for some sort of read because he had flat called preflop. After watching the flop for a while he reached for his chips and fumbled out 4000. Im not an expert on reading people but going on how he played previous hands in the last two hours there was no way he had the J. If he had hit trips he would have have checked. The way he fumbled around the chips it looked like he wasn’t sure how he stood and was looking to take the pot with that bet. As soon as he put the bet in I came over the top for my remaining 9000. I couldn’t put him on any hand that could beat me. If he had A 10 I was splitting the pot, 10 10, JJ , QQ , KK or AA was unlikely as he would have re-raised me preflop. I don’t believe he has the trips and if he has a low pair I have him beaten anyway. The only hand Im worried about is QK giving him the up and down straight draw. He still had 10,000 in front of him so he wasn’t pot committed and a call was for another 5000 of his stack.

I leaned back in the chair and was more confident in this bet than any other I had made in the last six hours (it was almost 2am now and we had started at 7.45pm). After about 3 minutes or head rubbing, chip counting, querying how much the bet was and muttering ‘have you got the Jack’ under his breath as he tried to stare me down, he finally called.

Its now a big pot, in fact its just over the 25,000 I wanted. This is it, almost a certain path to a thousand pound and a great chance to make the final table.

‘I know you haven’t got the J, can you beat this’ and I flip up the A 10.

His shoulders slumped and he collapsed into the chair – its Q 10 offsuit.

My first thought is ‘what the ****, you called a 3000 preflop raise with that ****’ but I am such a massive favourite that I realise this is it, he has three Queens to hit and only two cards to come, a 10 gives him a split pot.

It didn’t take long – BANG Queen on the turn no help on the river and Im out. Now I wish I was online so I can type some abusive message to try and help me feel better. I am gutted and thankfully he didn’t apologise because that would have made it worse. I did manage to blurt out ‘you call my raise with THAT!’ but Im feeling so tired that it doesn’t have much effect.

I trudge back to Hannah and my friend Brian who have stayed with me to the very bitter end. There are no words that can be said to a player to make them feel better after a bad beat. I got home about 3am and had plenty of time to stew over the hand but I don’t see what else I could have done, you win some, you lose some.

It was a great experience, certainly something I want to do again. But its tough. Its a lot of concentration, a lot of sitting around with very little breaks (20 minutes in six hours) and very tiring. I had plenty of hands that stood up when I needed, managed to go up against some top pros and saw enough bad beats to prove that these things don’t just happen online you know…