My son;s called jason and was born on the fourth.

Well Teeside approached and the Gala poker tour was in town and at my local casino.
Last year I finished 4th in the main event and any chance to get near that would be much appreciated.

£100 freeze out.
Event no1 attracted a sell out 110 runners and as anyone who has played any of the side events on the gala tour would realize that the structure is fast and furious. This was a non event for me. Once my pocket kings got cracked it was down hill all the way and I exited quite quickly.
Straight over to the hold em cash game & in less than 2 hours later I turned a £100.00 into £460.00. Wanting to stay fresh a quick bite to eat and a early night think was the best strategy with hopefully a few busy days ahead.

£200.00 freezeout.

Started this event quite well. Doubled up in the 2nd level with aces v queens on a ten high board. Armed with chips it was quite easy to bully and manouver through the numbers towards the final 25. They say in marathons you hit the preverbial wall at about 18 - 20 miles, well for me it seems in poker my wall is at about 18 runners. From sitting at about average and down to tables I could just not get a playable hand


I swear if 8 3 were aces I would be retired and living in luxury with £10.00 tourny players tending the grounds and fanning me with palm leaves when it gets a bit to hot.
I managed to survive down to 15 players when in the small blind i flat called with 4 5 hitting the bottom straight and getting a much needed double up from a guy who missed his flush and top straight draw.Still low I progressed to 11th place before exiting when my 9 10 all in got called by king ten. The person holding k 10 had just doubled up in the previous hand and it is a good move to make if he is on the big blind as i think he feels like "i,ve just got these chips don,t want to give em back". However not in this case. The comp paid thirteen prizes so collected £370.00 for my efforts.
I did have %10 of the eventuall winner but will keep that seperate from our bankroll.
Over all was pleased the way I played, but have to get over this wall malaki. Not quite sure why it has happening so frequently this year. I have never played just to cash in a comp I feel even at 20 places out I am always trying to win the damm thing so don,t think that is the case, maybe it is just the poker gods having fun?

THE MAIN EVENT.

Made the delibarate decision to play the Saturday rather than the Friday as a day of rest in between comps would only do better than good.
Nice and refreshed I sat at my table and found a few locals Richard Baker Sunderlands Mr angry among others.
I accually sat down 5 mins late once i knew Mr angry was at my table as I wanted to see his reaction when i seated.
Got the perfect reaction "oh no i cant win a 50/50 against you"
Cheers m8 I know who,s big blind I will be knicking if I need to.
As it happens there were no major clashes between us but not for the want of trying on my behalf.
Early doors i played very tight. I lost a couple of races and a few moves did not come off. I had played me chip stack to about 6500 from a starting stack of 10,000 but was not unduely worried.
Steven Lui got moved to the table and i played my pocket jj's to perfection which along with a few other hands got me upto 11k.
Then the following hand occurred.
Blind v blind me be the small blind and holding ace 5 of hearts i flat called the big blind did not raise.
The flop 3 3 king two hearts, i bet out 900 and the player done the old hollywood act which let me know that he indeed had a 3, as did every one else on the table.
After his oscar winning performance he eventually called.
The turn a magic heart great the only danger was to avoid the full house.#
I checked he bet i just flat called.
The river had no bearing to my hand i just had to hope he had not hit a house, i checked he bet 3k. I had 2900 left if i called and lost the hand. Obviously i just called he had a three and no house phew.
I think this was the best option here, i knew if i pushed all in on the river he would call but did not want to put my tourney life on the line.
Any way 2900 chips would have bought the contingency plan in to action mmmmmmm mr angrys blinds

Now comftable in chips & slightly above average i could afford to sit back and enjoy the show
And what a show.
This is the hand that i witnessed on my table.
Mister trip three,s the went on a roll. Hand after hand kings v queens etc he is now sitting with 45k.
A smashing guy but you know the type any two cards.Anyway a bit of bad feeling develops between him and Richard after he stays in with bottom pair a four i think hits his two pair on the river and takes a few chips of richard.
Now richard does not take this likely and soon as it is mr trips big blind he raises, everyone passes richard asks mr chips u gunna call this time with crap.
Mr trips replys well i have the chips why not, he calls
Flop 6J6
Mr trips bets 1k and richard raises to 2k, mr trips reraises to 4k and richard exclaims i am sick of this i am all in.
Mr trips announces call.
On there backs...
QQ for mr tripps and...

QUAD SIXES FOR RICHARD

Turn a QUEEN, river...

A BIG FAT JUICY QEEEN.
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a way to go out.

Told the dealer he was a very lucky guy. When he asked why i replied if that had happened to Mr angry you would of been thirty foot from here with a poker table embedded in your head. Mr angry would of been in Durham getting outdrawn off the jails Mr lucky bastard and having to bend over for another forfit.!!!

Not long after that hand I moved tables and now holding 21k in chips well above the average.
My first hand I wake up and see pocket queens. With blinds of 300/600 I make it 2600 to go, the big blind thinks then calls.Flop q j 8 rainbow, blind checks and I decide to continue bet 2600 to disquise my hand. Also the board is good for my hand but a bit dangerous as any card above a 9 to fill in the gaps would put me in a situation where I would not be sure where I am.
The big blind called, the turn came a 9, so now the board shows qj89, this is geting scary. The big blind checks and I put in 4200 into the ever growing pot. The big blind announces "all in" 10.4 k more!. Now once analysing his possible holdings the only cards that he could have were 10 k which would give him a straight. Having had ni info on the guy I just had to hope that he had not called a raise with k 10 suited.
After a long think I guessed he had flopped a set of jacks or 8,s and I was ahead.
I called he flipped over trip 9,s, he had stayed in the pot for a middle pin 10 but ended up with trips on the turn. River a blank so now my stack had grown to over double the chip average.
The table was very aggressive and it was so hard to gather any chips a combination of no decent hands and two chipped up young ones trying to beat up each other.
Eventually my 40+ k dwindelled to 20 as the table split.
Now into the last hour of play I desperatly needed a double up quick.Enter the monster hand of J4.
As most of you know MY SON IS CALLED JASON AND WAS BORN ON THE 4TH. So j4 has become a novelty hand for me. It is fantastic in a £10.00 rebuy when you have no chips J4 i,m all in baby.
However this was no £10.00 rebuy comp and was not a hand I was gunna use to double up.
The hand played like this.Button flat called, James keys in the small blind made it up me with J4 in the big blind checked.
Flop ace 7 4
ALL check
Turn JACK hey ho 2 pair
I bet out 5k and the button puts me all in,small blind scarpers i call on there backs, he turns over two pair ace 7.
The dealer is just about to deal the river when i stop him and tell my opponent he is beat.My son is called jason he was born on the fourth this is my favourite hand and it never lets me down. He looked at me as if I was completly bonkers but turned a whiter shade of pale when the dealer turned a FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wELL DONE MY SON.

I finished day one with a above average 46k

NOW GOING TO PUBLISH THIS POST IN TWO PARTS AS IT IS A BIT LONG WINDED, SO LOOK OUT FOR PART TWO.