The month of march proved to be a very profitable one for me in both tournaments and ring games, indeed my newly adopted strategy of of sticking to one particular poker site not only filled the coffers with $4000 but also earned some excellent perks through an accumulation of V.I.P points.
The month started with the $2000,000 guaranteed prize pool over at Titan poker, a tournament in which first place stood to gain $500,000, and the top 200 players would receive at least $1000.
On the day of the big game I had the luxury of a long lie in as my partner and children were going out for the day, This was ideal for me as I expected that if I was to make any sort of good money out of this one, a marathon session would be required
So on to the big game, it started at 8pm G.M.T and had around 1400 players all fighting for a share of this giant prize pool. The tournament itself had a fantastic structure in which the blinds increased every 30 minutes and very much suited my style of play , so with my confidence brimming I got torn in about it. As the evening turned to late night and the numbers playing dwindled I found myself chatting away with two people who had been at my table for most of the five hours we had played, a chap from Canada and a lady from Blackpool. With exception to ring games or private tournaments chatting with other players at the table is something I rarely do, however the long blind periods coupled with the lack of table action meant a change in my no chat policy was needed.
After 7 hours of solid poker play and with my chip stack well above average I noticed a comment in the chat box claiming we were only 10 players off the cash and me along with my new found friends practically had money in the bank. Around 2 hands later with only 8 players left before a cash out I looked at my hand and saw pocket fives, a hand I would normally fold but on this occasion I was getting a cheap call in late position so I took a punt at it. Good decision as the flop made me quad fives, and if that wasn't enough before the betting got back to me there had been a big raise and a re raise. There was one downside the big re raise was my Canadian friend and I the stack to bust him out with him getting no cash for his seven hours work. Any I flat called the re raise as did the original raiser and turn brought a third diamond so when the betting hit me I pushed my stack and bust the pair of them who had both made big flushes out. Then about an hour later I called an all in raise with pocket aces pre flop and lost to trip sevens made on the river and bust out in 120th place and picking up $2484.
