What a weekend! 

I went from having no real expectations, to wanting to survive the first day; and then on to reaching the last 18 and then the final table; to thinking that I might actually be able to win it. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's go back to the start.

Broadway Casino & the APAT Tournament Organisers

Although I have very little experience of live tournaments, I was very impressed with the way the APAT and the Broadway Casino in Birmingham ran this event.  Everyone who was there, either taking part or supporting from the sides was very impressed. 

It's definitely the best casino I've seen anywhere in England, although I must admit I'm not an authority in that area.  But from my limited experience it was run well, and the dealers were very competent, especially the last dealer on the final table - but more about that later…

Of course I'm going to say that it was an excellent weekend, but even before I got to the final table and was lucky enough to hit the cards I did, I was thoroughly enjoying it.  For the first ever live APAT event, it went very well from where I was sitting.  The venue helped (great facilities and very good card-room staff), and everyone involved from the APAT made it work.  My hat goes off to Tony, Des, Mel, Rich and everyone who have worked very hard to make it a success.

The other people who made it work so well were the players.  All weekend there was such a great atmosphere, without any intimidation or pressure on a newbie like me.  Although there were many people who have a fair bit of experience playing live tournaments, there were also many who were experiencing their first live event.  I don't know anyone who was there who didn't think it was a great tournament. 

At the request of Tony (the Chairman of the APAT) anyone busting out was applauded by all the players still involved - and this was carried on throughout the whole weekend, and just added to the friendly atmosphere.It was a privilege to play with such a great group of people, and some I will be meeting up with again for some poker - and I guess most will be at the next APAT event in Scotland.

But like I said, this was my first major live event, and the next one is going to have a lot to live up to.  

Day 1

Play kicked off at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.  It feels so long ago now, but I didn't have a concrete strategy set out other than to play tight and sensibly early on, and then move through the gears as the blinds became more substantial. 

I was hoping to accumulate some chips so that I wouldn't become desperate too early.  I wanted to play premium hands from any early or middle position, and look to be a bit more 'creative' from the button.

Fortunately, I managed to get some good cards, and stayed ahead of the average stack for most of the first day.

One important hand took place relatively early - less than halfway through the first day.  I called a raise from an aggressive and highly-confident player (who had been dominating the table raising and re-raising frequently) from the button with .  The flop came .  So I have top pair, top kicker, and a draw to the nuts flush.

I couldn't really put him on a hand (I actually thought he might have had an overpair, but I really didn't know to be honest.  In fact earlier he'd re-raised me off a hand and then showed me ), and when he bet just under the size of the pot, I decided it was best to call, see the turn card, and make a decision from there. 

The turn was a heart, and so I'd hit the nuts flush and it was just a case of seeing if I could actually win any more from the hand.

Unfortunately for him, he was holding the and had flopped the flush.  When he bet on the turn, I re-raised him all-in and he was pretty much pot-committed and called with the rest of his chips.  He was fairly upset, probably with the way he'd played the hand more than anything. A larger raise on the flop would have seen me off the hand, but he obviously wanted to milk the hand for all he could.

I'd reached 60,000 chips at one point, but shortly before the end of the first day I had my come up against an all-in , and a Jack on the flop and the turn gave him the hand - and dented my chip-stack considerably.  I still managed to finish with enough chips to be just above the level of the average stack, but I was conscious that the blinds were increasing to a substantial level, and Day 2 would start at 1,500/3,000 meaning that if I didn't increase my stack I would soon be short-stacked.

We finished at about 11 o'clock on Saturday night, and I got home and slept pretty well - happy with the fact that I'd got through the first day.

Day 2

ith the size of my stack in relation to the blinds, I knew that I wouldn't be able to hang around for too long waiting for premium hands.  So my plan from the start of the second day was to look for opportunities to steal the blinds and hopefully double-up when possible.  
I was also keen to avoid playing speculative hands (Ax suited, or suited connectors) where I could end up putting myself in a difficult situation for a large part of my stack - not being confident enough in my abilities to play these hands well enough.

This plan worked well, and once I started to accumulate some chips my goal was to reach the last 18, play aggressively and then reach the final table with enough chips to have a say.
Looking back, I think I played fairly well, and got the right cards when I needed them.

Last 18

When it was down to the last two tables, I was playing fairly aggressively, raising with a lot of hands when I thought the opportunity was there.  I probably played the best poker I've ever played during this period, and was also helped along with two lucky river cards that did my stack no harm at all.

The Final table

The final table line-up and chip-stacks were as follows:

1. Antony Wolsely (Halifax) -  42,000
2. Jimmy Doran (Liverpool) - 60,000
3. Matthew Milne (Glasgow) - 273,000
4. Steve Parker (London) - 75,000
5. Mark Donnelly (Birmingham) - 153,000
6. Scott Moore (Cumbernauld) - 50,000
7. Me  - 240,000
8. Andy Winkett (Cradley Heath) - 121,000
9. Trevor Heath (Cornwall) - 74,000
10. Alistair Fowler (Elgin) - 123,000 

When I got to the final table I was in a comfortable position not to be too desperate, and my plan was to continue to use aggression to continue to build my stack.  This worked well to start with, and one of the players on the table even commented "Do you say anything else other than raise?"

I also managed to annoy the player to my left so much with my constant raising from the cut-off seat and on the button that he eventually tilted and re-raised all-in from the Small Blind with .  Unfortunately for him, the Big Blind had and called the bet.  I had to lay down my as I knew that I was beaten.  A jack on the flop meant that I would have lost the hand, and lots more money if Antony hadn't joined in the hand.  So that saved me some chips, and eliminated another player who was between me and one of the top three places. 

With the prize structure being so 'top-heavy' paying well for the top three places (and especially for the winner), a top 3 place was my minimum target from then.

Unfortunately, I had a run of shocking hole cards, and to make matters worse the other players at the table were playing very well.  I just didn't have an opportunity to make many moves, and my stack was slowly dwindling away.

I had become short-stacked at one stage and was fortunate enough to get hands that I was willing to move all-in with, either to take the blinds or hopefully double up.  I re-raised all-in with and managed to survive a race against Scott's - doubling me up and giving me the chip lead.

Key Hands

There were two hands that shaped it for me.  One was on the table before we reached the final 10, when Mark folded a hand to a raise that would have crippled me if he'd called (I actually knocked out another player on that hand with my straight, but Mark would have had a higher straight and taken the pot if he'd called).  Instead I won a decent amount of chips, and could carry on with the same game plan.

The other hand was on the final table when I held and was up against Matt's .  Matt had been bossing the table, and I certainly considered him as one of (if not the) strongest players at the table.  We both had similar stacks of about 450,000 each (Mark the other remaining player had about 300,000.

When I saw that I had , I was considering an all-in move - against Matt's Big Blind.  However, I decided that If Matt had nothing, he'd throw it away if I moved all-in, so instead I made a bet of 100,000.  Matt moved all-in.  I had a choice then, either to back down, or go all-in (which is what I'd planned to do on the flop if he'd called).  I couldn't put Matt on an exact hand, but thought that at best he might have had a small pair, or at worse ace-rag.  If he'd had a high pair, I don't think he'd have re-raised all-in, as it would force me to fold most hands. 

He'd been aggressively defending his blind, and so I figured he could have made the re-raise with pretty much any two cards.  So I decided to call.  When he showed the tens, I was probably worse off than I'd expected (and also meant that it reduced any possibility of a straight being a winning hand for me).  But the queen on the flop meant it was my lucky day.  Looking back, I'm not sure if I played that hand well at all.  It all made sense at the time, but now I'm not so sure.  Winning that hand put me in the driving seat with a huge chip-lead over Mark (900,000 v 300,000)

Heads-up

We'd wished each other luck, and agreed that after two days and 15 hours of poker, it was probably all going to come down to one or two hands once it was heads-up!
That proved to be the case.  The first hand I had , and pushed all-in assuming I was ahead and not wanting to have to play the flop and happy whether Mark called with two overcards or a smaller pair.  Mark called with and doubled up when he paired the ace on the flop.  That brought us to about level.

In the second hand heads-up I held .  Mark called from the Small Blind, and I checked to see the flop.  I tried to keep calm when the flop came down with two deuces on the board.  Mark checked, and so I hoped to try and trap him and checked as well.  I didn't feel calm at the time though, and I'm glad that I didn't give my hand away.

 The turn was a 6.  Mark bet 200K, and I re-raised him all-in.  He called.  I was very happy to see that Mark only had a pair with the 6, and then I realised that it could all be over. 

It still hasn't sunk in yet.

I didn't think I was ready for this tournament - I'll need to get some practice in before Copenhagen!