Live Session #31 (3rd At The Fox)

It seems like The Fox doesn't do too badly for me after all as tonight I managed a 3rd place finish in their 7PM freezeout for a £240 payout and a £200 profit overall. For the record, by the way, this was a £43 freezeout rather than the £38 freezeout that I originally thought. It was an "ante-up" tournament, which meant that blinds stayed the same (100/100) and it was just the antes that went up. Once you got the hang of the fact that you were fighting for the pre-flop pot rather than the negligible blinds, it all became pretty straightforward what to do - and it was surprising to see how many players just didn't cotton on to this fact. Furthermore, as the antes increased, not limping in for 100 chips just seemed barmy. Me? Yes, I'm barmy but it was just a case of playing ABC poker, noting the preflop pot size and just being very aware of position. I was a little annoyed at my exit hand (66 v. A2 and seeing an ace hit the flop) but I was very short-stacked compared to the 1st and 2nd place players so it wasn't so bad.

One interesting thing I have noticed at these Fox tournaments is the fact that many inexperienced players do end up hitting the panic button far too early and are prepared to call huge all-ins a little too freely with their fairly big stacks and marginal hands that really should hit the muck in an instant. With about 7 or 8 remaining and a few short-stacks just holding on (me included), players with mountains of chips and holding hands like A6 up to AJ were far too ready to put their tournament life on the line and call all-ins with these hands. I'm not complaining, of course, because I climbed the money ladder just by sitting on my arse but it's something they really don't need to do with such big stacks and which could be put to use in more +ev situations.

Afterwards I felt good and, as I was relatively sober, went to The Empire for a bit of £1/£2. This evening I came out with a £46 profit so it was all good. Here, I just played tight and pushed with my good hands. Yep, they folded when I pushed but I was happy to top up my profit to quite a respectable £246 for the evening. The only thing that is really getting me down now is the long wait for the night bus home and that bloody dreary bus journey - deadly dull and tediously tiring, especially when you have to stand virtually the whole way!