I play cash solely online and - generally - tournaments solely live. I generally find myself being the best player at any table I sit on in my local card room in Walsall, simply through the knowledge I've gained from playing online. Add in a semi-decent ability to gain tells from people, and I've got a good shot at any small live tournament that I play.

Yesterday, I didn't play any online poker, but I did go down the Walsall Grosvenor yesterday to play the £25 (+£5.50!!!) tournament. 27 runners and a structure very similar to the bar league I play in every week back in Swansea where I live as a student.

I played pretty well, and chopped the tournament heads-up after getting even in chips from around a 5-to-1 chip deficit at 5k-10k blinds.

As I hit the final table I had 35k of the 100k in play. I'd collected these in a mixture of making moves at the right time (jammed SB into old Polish BB who had about 6k to my 24k, my K3 > A5 on 3-A-Q-K-x board, and he then proceeded to call me a cunt), making good calls against opponents who decided to make over-sized bluffs and hitting hands (raising pf with Q7hh, being flat-called and then minraised, giving me odds to hit 7-7-2 on the flop).

I did make one mistake against an Irish guy. I think his patter got to me.

I think I'm in the BB with J5o and it's limped to me (standard) and I check.

Flop 5h Qh Kh

Check-check.

Turn: Js

I bet around 1200 into 2,000 or whatever it was, and the Irish guy flails around a bit (can't think of a better way to describe his demeanour) and calls quickly.

Turn: 9c

I check in order to induce a bluff. And he instantly jams! So now I'm wondering what the fuck he's got. My first thought is a ten is possible, which he could call the Turn with. But then I started trying to out-level myself, thinking he's caught a small piece of that (less than two pair) and is trying to represent the straight now. After about two minutes, I say "I think you've talked me into it at last, I call" and he doesn't show me a Ten, but Ah6h for the absolute nuts. Nice hand said I. And, respectfully for once, he goes quiet.

So I'm down to about 15k now with the average about the same, and I've gone from a good position to ship the thing outright, to having about the same shot as everybody else. Now I've just gotta have faith in my endgame.

I'll cut a long story short. It hit three-handed and Irish guy tells other guy that 'I ain't got no beef with you, boss. We'll leave each other alone and just go for him'. This is enough for me and I say 'Light-hearted or not, I won't have collusion spoken about at the table.' He says he doesn't collude with anybody, and I say that I'm not accusing him of it then.

He ends up busting in 3rd, and I'm heads-up with a guy who hasn't given much trouble at all. Played pretty solidly (but badly at times, for example, on Irish's bust hand, he flat-called Irish's 90% stack preflop raise...) and was only raising with Aces and pairs. I get level in chips within about 10 hands, shoving on his limping, open-jamming and getting called by worse, and then, finally getting KQss v K6o AIPF and staying ahead. We have exactly 50k each at 5k/10k blinds and he asks if I want to do a deal. I ask him what he wants to do and he says "Well, it's a dead-even chop, isn't it? It's just a crapshoot now". I agree on the sole basis that it is now a crapshoot and I have little edge if we're just flipping a coin every hand. So we shake hands and I take a nice (for me) little live score of £260. I am trying to build a live bankroll and this is a nice start.

I then go immediately into the 8.30pm tournament which is a £20 deepstack tournament, with 10k starting chips and a 30 minute clock to start. Then it hits 20 minutes and becomes a crapshoot fast. My plan was to splash around to try and accumulate a stack early, and I ended up back at starting stack at the first break. Hit some hands and went up, and then semi-bluffed and got properly bluffed off my 6-high (lol) and went back down. So then I had to sit tight and just find spots to get it in good.

I end up making the final table, with £670 on offer for first place, and £40 for tenth. The key hand did not go in my favour, and was when we were down to 11 and two tables. The Button has announced that this hand he's going all-in blind, and it's folded to him and he obliges. I look down in the SB at KJhh and I decide this is likely ahead of whatever he has. BB folds and then looks at me like I'm stupid when I show my hand. Button turns over an 8 first, and then a King, for K8o. Good! Board then ran out K-8-5-A-x to fuck me over. I give him half my stack and am down to around 35k with an average of 85k when I should now have over 100k. Damn.

I bust about 45 mins later in 9th, when I have 35k at 5k/10k blinds. Early position player raises for a stack of 5k chips, pretty much committing himself. I have KJo and I hope that I'm at least live against him, knowing I have few opportunities left to get it in before the blinds hit again. Sadly, he has AK and I receive no help to bust for £50 but another nice addition to my roll. It could've been so much better though...