They Don't Like It Up 'Em!

The Scots fell by the wayside.
The Welsh were put to the sword.

And the English? Well, they won again.

Not Rugby.
Not Football. (Yet. )

But the Blogger Tourny. Happy to do it for my country.

Bollocks to that mallarky - it's all about me, me, me!!

Really enjoyed the game and felt really focused and patient (something that has been missing from my game for the last couple of weeks!). Got some good cards at vital times and generally, my decision making was pretty good.

A few hands stand out:
A 6 x BB raise in mid position from Res Evil and I was holding 10 10. Blinds were 50 and I think I was in the SB. Did consider putting him all in, but as there were 2 more players after me, decided to just call. Flop was A Q x and Res took a while before betting (I thought, at the time) weakly. I just didn't put him on an Ace - though JJ was an option. Overall, I thought he was weak, so I called. He checked the turn, as did I and he made another small bet at the river. Again, I thought about pushing here as I thought I sensed weakness, but just decided to flat call as I still had the possibility of JJ in my head. He had 99 and this put me to CL for a short while.

Also had a big hand against Dan (Portdeco), whom I would later go heads up against. I check / call holding 77 on a 7 5 2 flop. turn x, again I check call and the river was also a blank and this time I check/raised and he called with pocket 5's - also flopping a set. Unlucky for him, but he recovered really well and became CL himself for quite some time!

Did think I'd knocked him out with my Q10 against his 6 4 on a K Q 4 flop when we were down to 3 - but a 6 on the river almost put me out - down to less than 3k. From here, it was push with any decent hand and after a few folds, Dan called my A8 with KQ (I think) and neither improved and I was back!
Dan took out Hammerheid for 3rd, then a battle that seemed to go on for ages was fought. First I was CL by a mile, then he was, and there were more swings than on general election night!
It came down to final hand when my 78 came against his 94 (i think it was a 9?) on a J 8 4 flop. I bet at it, he called, and when another J hit the turn, I was confident I was ahead. I bet and he pushed all in. He'd made a comment a few hands earlier about being tired and 'time is getting on' and I thought he was trying to steal. I called and the river didn't help him and I picked up my 2nd Blogger victory.

That's mostly the way I remember it - don't think I sucked out once or made that many bad decisions and really enjoyed getting back into Blogger game after an absence of several weeks. Came back 3 weeks ago and was out early, managed 7th last week and now 1st.

I'll be back to defend the title next week - where I am sure Burnley Mik will be one of the more vocal challengers!

Proud to do it for country and Queen, Mik :-)