BCPC and RPC Champions League 1 – Friday 24 May 2013
Venue: The New Talbot
So here we go then, the inaugural Champions League showdown between the two giants of Midlands poker – The Black Country Poker Club and the Raven Poker Club.
It promised to be a close game (cough) and tensions were high as players took their seats. Several players were visibly shaking with nerves. On a completely separate note, the room was colder than an Eskimo dogging site.
Bri tried to warm things up with a DJ set but the true heat would come from the poker action. The team photos were taken and the look of determination on each face was clear.
BCPC
RPC
Starting stacks of 5k and 25 minute blinds.
Table 1 and 2
Early action from the feature table saw Courtney and Wozza butting heads. With blinds at 25 and 50 Courtney raises to 150. Adam 3-bets to 475 and Wozza calls. Courtney then re-pops to 900. Adam folds and Wozza calls. Flop 3s Ac Jc. Courtney leads out for 1000, Wozza calls. Turn Kd. Check check. River 10c. Courtney declares all-in and Wozza tank-folds. Courtney shows QQ for the rivered straight. Wozza swears blind he had him beat up till then.
A bit of incestual team action then followed with Adam and Debjani getting it on, with bets and calls down to the river where they both look up and see who they’re playing against J and check, both showing JQ for a turned(?) straight. The third diamond on the river probably saved the day!
The first casualty of the night was young Dom Hazlett. Tod raised (I’ve made a decision to refer to myself mostly in the third person) to 300. Wozza reraised to 675 and then Dom, who only had 900 left, went all-in. I enquired (it’s not a hard and fast rule this third person thing) whether if I called would Wozza be able to raise again. The answer – eventually – was no, so I decided to see a flop with AJ. Wozza called and the flop I think was K high. I checked, Wozza bet and I mucked. Wozza turned over KK and Dom 77. No miracle came and Dom finished 20th, picking up the £5 booby prize though, so every cloud and all that.
Next on the feature table the RPC liked the look of this intra-club hanky panky and Simon and Gavin managed to get all the chips in the middle with KK and TJ diamonds, respectively. Gavin was the short stack but not any longer as the three-diamond flop saw him double up to around 3k.
Gavin’s reprieve didn’t last long though as England Captain Steve Redfern took his first scalp of the night, his AA bettering Gavin’s JJ, AIPF.
Although it was a loss not to have fellow world champion winner Tony ‘Trip the Light Fantastic’ Tripper on the team, Steve looked to make up for it and take the RPC on single-handedly. He also basically kept Adam and Tod in the game for a lot longer than certainly I deserved. Actually that’s not true. Whenever Steve raised and I shoved over the top it’s amazing but I always had Aces. Steve being the player he is read it correctly every time and on each occasion wisely folded.
Steve‘s next victim was Simon who after getting short following the earlier KK v TJ debacle shoved with K9 only for Steve to wake up with AK. An Ace on the flop and Simon exited in 18th.
It was all going well for the BCPC but then a stumble as Courtney committed his chips with AQ hearts only to run into Neil’s KK. No Ace on the board and the BCPC lost its first player.
Over on the secondary table the BCPC stumble turned into a full-on sprawled-all over-the-floor as Matt Wilson went all in with AK only for Mooch to wake up with, uh, KJ. First card out of the door (is that the phrase?) is a J and Matt is unlucky to exit in 16th.
Young Dale soon followed shoving his short stack in with T7s only for Mooch to call with AQ. Two live cards but the board bricked out.
Back on the feature table it was now getting difficult for the BCPC as the two remaining RPC members had decent stacks – Wozza going from the bottom three at the first break to chip leader by the meal break – and it was becoming difficult to avoid each other. Tod and Steve got into a hand (with Wozza initially? I think so) where Steve bet on the flop of J89 only for Tod to shove over the top. Steve tank-folded and Tod showed a ten. Steve said he had J9. And then grumbled about the stupid team format something or other grumble grumble J.
The RPC hung on for a good long while but eventually Neil exited in 14th shoving over the top of Steve’s raise with TJ, Steve making the easy call with KK. No funky flop and Neil was the 5th player out on Table 1, so that table now had its five players for the final table.
Over on the secondary table the RPC didn’t seem to be experiencing the same delay in knocking out their opponents. With blinds quite high young Mr Duncan saw an Ace and put his last 3k over the line. He was called by Joanne with AK and unfortunately Andy’s other card was only a 3 and the board ran out sans-3.
Bri soon followed shoving his final 2.5k with Q6 only for Mooch to find A9 and make a good call. An Ace on the flop saw Brian exit in 12th.
We were now on the final table bubble and with the first four players going out on the secondary table being from the BCPC all remaining hope of avoiding a table whitewash lay with heads-up specialist Dazza. All looked to be good as Daz called Kev’s all-in, Daz showing A8, Kev flipping over A6. However the cruel flop of X66 saw Kev double-up and leave Daz crippled. He was soon put out of his misery as his J3o proved no match for Joanne’s pocket 7s.
The final tablers then were:
BCPC: Debjani Duncan, Adam Phelan, Steve Redfern, Tod Wood
RPC: Kevin Berrie, Warren Carless, Joanne Gater, Denise Gorton, Graham Gorton, Sara Jones
Final Table
With blinds being reset to 100/200/25 there was now plenty of room for people to play poker again.
Early action saw Debjani go all-in with QQ against Kev’s AK. A low flop gave Deb the advantage but the cowboy on the turn soon changed that and Debjani exited in 10th place.
The BCPC now had only three players left and to win the trophy needed them to finish in the top 4. Could it be done? Er…
Anyway, the game then went on for aaages with Tod and Adam getting low, Steve betting and then folding to Tod’s shoves with Aces and Adam’s shoves with kings (probably), rinse and repeat. Steve still remained the dominant chip leader though (“and a bloody ATM for you two!”) so twas all gravy.
Steve used this chip lead and some good strong play to make a big dent in Wozza’s stack, so much so that when Wozza went all-in with 89 Steve felt it was worth taking a risk to knock the dangerous Wozza out with 74. The board ran out 9X7 9 7, and Wozza doubled up.
Not to worry though, a genuine opportunity to take an opponent out would surely follow and indeed did when Steve called Sara’s shove, she flipping over A8 and Steve A9. But reminiscent of the Daz v Kev hand earlier in the evening Steve was outdrawn as Sara hit her 8 on the flop.
Kev was also getting low, but doubled up in more straightforward fashion with JJ v Adam’s 88. The worry for the BCPC now was that the three RPC shortstacks had all doubled up and were dangerous again.
A glimmer of light came when Sara and Kev refused to budge on a board of QQ5 5 8, betting and calling all the way to the river, until Sara was all-in. Her Q7 looked good until Kev turned over 55 for quad 5s. Nice hand, sir! Amazingly Joanne, who was also in the hand, folded KQ on the turn. Nice fold, sir!
Around this point we had the following exchange:
Simon: “What time do they open to here?”
All: “Till we finish.”
Simon: “What time do they serve to here?”
All: “Till we finish!”
Daz: “This is West Bromwich, mate!”
Steve continued to be aggressive for the BCPC but finally got caught out bluff-shoving his stack and being called by Mooch’s set of 3s. Steve could still hit a ten on the river for a straight but it didn’t come and while Mooch received a healthy double-up Steve was down to fumes. He exited shortly afterwards shoving 2.5k blind and being looked up by Kev’s A9. Steve looked at his cards and saw the impressive 92o – an Ace on the flop and Robert’s your father’s brother.
I would like to make a special mention here regarding Steve’s play on the final table, and even before. He played a true team game and sacrificed what surely would have been a top 3 finish to (a) try and take out some RPC players with his big stack – Adam and I certainly didn’t have the firepower – and (b) keep the ATM going so that Tod and Adam could still remain in the game (after a fashion). By playing this way he gave the team a chance to win and in doing so it ultimately cost him a higher finish. Mucho respecto.
With only two BCPC players left in, the RPC were declared Champions League Champions!
(Mooch now suggested that the BCPC should change it’s slogan to “The second best poker club in the Midlands.” I’ll let Bri respond to that one.)
After Steve fell, Adam soon followed. He went in ahead with pocket tens and like Deb earlier looked to be good as the flop was all undercards but the lady on the turn (euww!) was a fatal kick in the nuts.
And now with the team game no longer being a factor, the RPC could get stuck into each other. All that pent-up frustration was released like a whirlwind across West Bromwich. Joanne went all-in with the pocket rockets, crushing Wozza’s A6. But on a night when the worse hand had come out on top so many times before we were not surprised to see a flop of 66J. Of course Aces are only second to the mighty J6 and that would have seen Joanne home but the Aces unfortunately were cracked, and Joanne exited in 6th.
Denise then finally succumbed. She had, on captain’s (and father’s) orders played a very disciplined team game, not risking her short stack until more BCPC players had been eliminated. It was therefore somewhat ironic that Denise was finally knocked out by Mooch who cruelly bet all-in in the SB when Denise was already all-in in the BB. Denise’s K5 was dominated by Mooch’s AK and didn’t improve.
With four left, Tod had a chance to make the final three and win a seat for the BCPC. After being card dead for, well, all night (apart from the, uh, Aces against Steve), he found JJ UTG and shoved, Mooch calling with his lucky hand, JK. Flop 59T, looking good. Turn 8. Uh-oh. River 9. Chop! Tod’s response: “Bastard!” Fair enough.
Shortly after, Tod raised 2.6K of his 10k stack with A4 hearts. Wozza and Mooch called. A three-club flop with connecting possibilities saw this reporter check, and wisely so as Wozza and Mooch got all their chips in (somewhere along the way I folded). Wozza had a straight flush draw and hit! 6789T clubs. Yowza.
Tod continued to take chips from Mooch – the general consensus round the room was “like candy from a baby” – and had built his stack up to 24k. It was to end there though. He raised UTG with 9T spades. Wozza: “Oh fuck it, I’ll call.” The flop was 6s 9s Jc. I bet, Wozza shoved and I called. Wozza showed J9 for a flopped two pair and my flush never arrived. Don’t think it even left the station. And so Tod finished in 4th and the BCPC dreams of a seat were crushed.
There then followed proof of the cosmological rule of entropy – that order inexorably leads to disorder – and in the thermodynamic system of the New Talbot it did so at an alarming rate! There were definitely some hands played. Some double-ups. Poker of sorts, I guess. And it didn’t seem to want to end. After Mooch’s comment, “I think I’ve completely lost it” was responded to by Wozza’s, “I completely lost it ages ago!” it was sagely agreed that perhaps some sort of chop should be in order. I think it was agreed to split the money evenly and all to play a Superstack and an APAT.
The matter of the final finishing positions still needed to be sorted though. “We’ll all go all-in!” Graham said, and all agreed. Wozza UTG: “All-in!” Mooch SB: “Fold!” looooool. OK, next hand, let’s try again. This time they do all go all-in. Kev is the big chip leader at this point. I think Mooch is second and Wozza third. Hands are: Mooch 88; Kev 75s, Wozza A6. The board runs out Q8T 5 3. So Mooch wins the hand with his set of 8s. But then in keeping with the last half hour of mental aberration Mooch declares himself overall winner. Well quite right as well! Overall very funny and it didn’t really matter anyway as they’d already agreed the chop and frankly were in no fit state to carry on.
So, final positions were:
20 – Dom Hazlett (Table 1)
19 – Gavin Jones (Table 1)
18 – Simon Smith (Table 1)
17 – Courtney Penn (Table 1)
16 – Matt Wilson (Table 2)
15 – Dale Macchiarelli (Table 2)
14 – Neil Ward (Table 1)
13 – Andy Duncan (Table 2)
12 – Brian Yates (Table 2)
11 – Darren Hooper (Table 2)
10 – Debjani Duncan (1 pt)
09 – Sara Jones (2 pts)
08 – Steve Redfern (4 pts)
07 – Adam Phelan (6 pts)
06 – Joanne Gater (8 pts)
05 – Denise Gorton (10 pts)
04 – Tod Wood (12 pts)
Top 3 finishers debatable but based on final hand of the night:
03 – Warren Carless (14 pts)
02 – Kevin Berrie (18 pts)
01 – Graham Gorton (25 pts)
BCPC – 23
RPC – 77
It was actually much closer than the score suggests. (That’s a lie.) Good night!
