#142: “Galway UKIPT Review, Part I” aka “Once You Pop…”

Last Thursday, I had a roller-coaster Day 1A at the Galway UKIPT. Seated to the right of my friend and LAG-monster Mark MacDonnell, I knew from the outset that I was going to be hamstrung. He would make life miserable for me if I took my usual approach of playing lots of pots early. I also realised that our table would break some time after the second interval so if I could stay out of trouble until then, a new table would most likely provide easier spots. So, I nitted up, played mostly legitimate hands and only on two occasions exploited this image with well timed semi-bluffs. Mark busted in the fifth level but his seat was taken by my friend Dara O’Kearney. Luckily, the table broke shortly afterwards and I brought pretty much the 15K starting stack to my new table. Second hand, I looked down at AK after the HJ raised and was flatted by the button. I had 25 blinds so to do anything other than shove seemed imprudent. I got it in and was called by both players. My AK was in great shape versus the AQ of the original raiser who had me covered but the button had pocket 9s which held. No Queen meant I took the 10K sidepot. A short stack shoved a few hands later and I made the call with QQ, holding against his 44. I was back up to 17K which allowed me to open a bunch of hands and begin chipping up.

In the final hand of the day, I opened the AK of spades UTG. The button and both blinds made the call and the flop came Jx7s8s. It was checked to me and I started counting out a c-bet. This was obviously a great board for my hand but I took pause to consider all my options. My image was very loose so I expected to get played back at by anyone with a piece. The hand was also 4-way so it was likely one or more of my opponents had connected. Sure, I could play this hand super-fast, potentially repping an overpair by shoving if anyone raised me but I also felt like there was value to being deceptive. If the button bet and was called or raised, I could get my stack in with lots of fold equity, giving myself a great shot at taking down the hand without showdown. Also, if I hit my draw on the turn, it would be hard for my opponents to put me on a flush given my lack of flop c-bet. I checked and the button checked. The turn came the 5 of spades and the BB lead for half the pot. I snap-clicked back and the other two folded. With everyone in the room bagging up chips, he goes into the tank. A minute later, he looked no closer to coming to a decision and it dawned on me to call the clock. I have never done this before and to be honest, I don’t think enough time had elapsed to warrant the request. However, I felt that whether he was given 60 seconds to act or not, the idea would be conveyed that I was pressuring him into a decision and that would beg the question why? The floor was called and my opponent looked at me with suspicion. I tossed my hands up in the air and he snap-shoved with Js9x drawing dead. He stormed away from the table before the irrelevant river card was dealt and I bagged up 51,300 chips.

The next day I played the Turbo side event during Day 1B of the Main. In just over 2 hours, I called the clock on 3 occasions. The tournament had a 15 minute clock and we were getting about 2 hands in per level thanks largely to this Scottish dude who figured it was reasonable to tank for 3 minutes per decision. I guess calling the clock is like Pringles or crack; once to start doing it, you can’t stop yourself from doing it again. I finally got moved from his table but for the rest of the day, I found myself mentally counting down 10 seconds after each person’s turn to act, itching for any excuse to shout ‘TIME’.