Tuesday 21 December 2010

PKR LIVE 5 - Sunday: Terminator Tournament

The Terminator Tournament was a $150 buy-in that all L5 qualifiers were automatically eligible to play in if they weren't still in the main event. The principle is simple: you get one "life" (in this case in the form of a cheap red poker chip) and whoever knocks you out gets given that chip. Each chip is worth $50 (or it may have been £50, I forgot) and you cash them in at the end. The rest of the prize pool is distributed in the customary way.

For this, the atmosphere was definitely lighter. Indeed, I had come, hangover-free, with a full book of drinks vouchers which I thoroughly intended to use. Results-wise the tournament was awful; I played pretty badly and I didn't get my hands on anyone's bounty. For me, I just become short-stacked very soon and committed the cardinal sin of just allowing myself to get blinded away so much that I become a zero-force at the table. In the end I think I put my 2-3BB stack in from early position with something like 9 5o. A bit embarrassing really.
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Anyway let's have a starting table round-up:

Seat 1 - pockets31: This was a very young guy in his late-teens/early twenties who seemed to play very standard ABC poker. His sharkscope stats are quite impressive (a near $8K profit at the time of writing) with the little wriggly shark jiggling away next to his name. Although he seemed to like a joke, he was definitely there more for business than for pleasure in my opinion and he cashed in 12th place for a $250 payout.

Seat 2 - Kusken777: This confident Swedish fellow has a fairly solid game and came with a good, steady set of MTT results. I asked about his name and its the name given to the horse-drawn carriage which (the dealer helpfully pointed out) is used in what the Americans call trap-racing. He's apparently an enthusiast, Kusken that is, not the dealer. Anyway, this guy was definitely into increasing his stack early and was becoming more dangerous as his stack increased. I've forgotten how he was taken out but quite relieved when he was.

Seat 3 - KKowboy: KKowboy was someone who I had met at The Fox Launch party and who outwardly is not someone who takes the game too seriously (although I'm sure he does). He enjoys the banter and played the entire game with a huge PKR patch attached to his forehead. He is a forum contributor and, like myself, was asked to take part in their player profile section. He did let slip that he had a bit of a chatbox war with jlmgyou, who was sitting at seat 10 at the table, but it was good to see them laugh this off.

Seat 4 - Wobblebottom: This is just some fat bloke who let himself get blinded away.

Seat 5 - maikie80: This guy had come over from Holland and while his sharkscope graph suggests he is a consistently good, solid player (a very steady upward graph in excess of $15K at the time of writing) he just didn't seem to make much of an impression at the table. He played the game in a good spirit and was chatty and friendly but I just can't remember any memorable hands that he played.

Seat 6 - welllbet: Welllbet, as most PKR players will know, is now a PKR pro. She has been around on PKR for quite some time (I remember playing against her in the early days) and I was quite surprised to hear that she had won over $60K by multi-tabling the $50nl/$100nl tables. She has a very quiet and composed, inexpressive, unassuming presence at the table - but she did give the table a nice little dance (emote style) when she finally won her first hand. At this table she never really got out of the blocks and headed for an early exit.

Seat 7 - weplayany2: This guy had a very thick Geordie accent and I wondered if any of our European friends at the table could understand him. He was quite a character - good-natured and fairly confident and he entertained the table about his grievance with one AlanPartidge who is a regular at the full ring $200nl cash game at PKR. He played a high variance game and was not frightened to throw his chips around.

Seat 8 - *EMPTY SEAT*

Seat 9 - Rhymenoceros: This guy has a huge presence at the $400nl+ cash game tables at PKR and gets a lot of respect from the regulars. He has the appearance of being the boffin of the classroom and he could pass for your friendly regular maths teacher or the local vicar. He has a very quiet unassuming table manner (just like all the good players) is very composed and goes about his business in a calm, business-like way. At this table he never really got going but you could tell he was only really here for the cash games.

Seat 10 - jlmgyou: This player did not seem to have a great grasp of the English language. He was French but was of far-Eastern origin and just played quietly and very solidly. It was clear he was just here for the poker. I recognised his name from when I played some of the $20-$30 SnGs in the past and I remember him as being pretty solid then as well. He managed a 14th place finish and, with bounties, bagged $350.
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One advantage about just hanging on in a tournament, with just a few chips, like a big girl's blouse is that you do get to see various players come and go at your table. In my case I got to say hello to two more big-name players. PatIvey (with back to back wins plus a 3rd in The Masters) arrived at the table but his stay was fairly short-lived; he got knocked out in the same hand as welllbet when a fella called IQSwarri caught the pair of them out with his AA. Tigerwing, a popular pro player, also arrived at the table and I congratulated him on his win in The Fox Club's £300 buy-in main event MTT.

Finally, a fella called jaywhat arrived and was at the seat next to me for what must have been for all of two hands. This guy is mainly an omaha player but manages to get into more scrapes on the forum than any other contributor. I even had a slight ding-dong with him a while back. Still it was nice to say a quick hello.
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In my next and, probably, last post about PKRL5 I shall write about the SnG game I was involved in and the three cash game tables that I visited as the event wound down.  

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