Lynne Beaumont’s blog

 

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June 2009

 

Mid Year Already!

 

Wow, I can’t believe it’s the middle of June already! 

 

I’m typing this blog from the airport in Houston, Texas, where I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Las Vegas.

 

I can’t wait. While James is playing in some of the side events of the WSOP, I’ll be playing in some of the deep stack festivals at the Venetian, Caesars Palace, Golden Nugget and a couple of events in Binion’s. There is generally more play for your money and it means I can play more tourneys as they vary in cost between $150 and $550 – clearly the fact I can play between three and five tourneys for the price of one of the cheaper WSOP side events is a no-brainer for me. Much as I’d love to try to get one of the gawdy bracelets on offer at the Rio, it’s more important for me to play within my bankroll and that means the cheapskate events! Mind you, with the fact the number of runners in these tournaments can be as many as 900, there is still a very nice pot to be won if you can get into the top five – and if I get a good result along the way, I can maybe change my plans to try a WSOP side. 

 

I tried a few times to qualify online for the $10,000 main event at the WSOP (courtesy of Betfred) and it was so frustrating! In one of the satellites I qualified for a $215 rebuy and I got heads up for the only seat up for grabs with 70% of the chips in play. I got him all in pre-flop with JJs against his manky A8o and of course he hit the ace! So then I was the short stack and as the blinds were at that stage pretty big there wasn’t much play left. But I got it all in on a flop with 17 outs against his top pair – so I was, in fact, favourite – but of course I didn’t hit any of them and my dream was over! (When I say ‘I’, having got heads up with a good chip lead I was so excited and nervous that I roped James in to help me play the heads up because I couldn’t sit still!) 

 

James flew to Vegas on Friday 12th June, but I had to stay in the UK until the Monday as I had kindly been given an entry by Betfred into the 40-seat guaranteed WSOP main event satellite on the Sunday night. However, again it wasn’t to be…I lost with AQ v AQ all in pre (he got a miracle flush) in one, and all in with AKo v JJs in another qualifier – I hit my king on the flop and he got one of his two outs on the river!

I may try a couple of live super satellites while I’m out here but will have to see how far my pennies go!  I had a pretty successful trip to Vegas last year so I’m really excited about the next two or three weeks.

 

Over the past few months I’ve cashed in five events in GUKPT festivals (I only played the £500 at the Vic in London as it was just too expensive) and have won my seat into the Champion of Champions event in December, which is basically a £100,000 freeroll! In Brighton I shared the £200 with one rebuy event at the Rendezvous which was a nice cash, and also won a package for the Irish Poker Festival in Killarney in October. At the new British Masters Poker Tour in Edinburgh I did a three-way deal in the £200 and so together with some other ranking event cashes, it has been a pretty good year for me so far, but again a top result in one of the main events eludes me.  

 

The Betfred Ladies Poker Tour events have not been so successful, although I feel I have played well in all three so far and have not had the run of cards and luck at the right time to go on. But in Scarborough I think perhaps I should have played more cautiously in order to reach the final. I went out in about 13th I think, and had a good chip stack for most of the day, but ran QQs into KKs late in the day which hurt me, and then when play had slowed down as we neared the bubble I pushed with a mid ace and walked into AK (though my chips were obviously lucky for Mel Lofthouse, as she went on and won the event!). While I don’t think I did anything wrong with the amount of chips I had and the stage of play for most tourneys, in the Betfred ones it’s SO important to get those final table points that maybe I should have slowed down. I don’t know…I just hate the idea of limping into a final. I want to win and so I daren’t get too weak chipwise.

 

Anyway, an event I was looking forward to was the World Women’s Open which was recorded for television in May. It consists of six heats of six and the winner of each goes through to the final. This year, the runner-up also gets another chance to play again in a six-seater to find the seventh player for the final. I played very well last year and just missed out on a seat in the final (though I misplayed a crucial hand in the heads up!). But the phrase ‘card dead’ was never so true. These events are pretty quick. While you get 100,000 chips, the blinds go 1k/2k, 2k/4k, 3/6k, 5/10k, 7k/15k and then mega 10k/20k.  There are only 21 hands per level so you have to get a move on! Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do when you don’t get cards and the other players do! It seemed like every time I raised with a so-so hand I was re-raised and had to fold several times. I was getting paranoid and thought they must think they can run all over me, but when I looked at the blog report on matchroompoker.com later and saw the hands being dealt to us, it was incredible how many times I ran into AA, KKs etc. The girl who won my heat had so many premium hands in such a short space of time that to be honest she couldn’t really fail to win! Three of us had so few hands it was a real struggle! I went out in fourth, which sounds pretty rubbish, but I was pleased with how I played, considering the cards and situations I ran into. But it was a bit of a kick in the teeth when I got back to the green room just as the third place was knocked out, to hear Annette Obrestad and Jessie May who were commentating say “I think the best two players in this heat are heads up here” when I had played my heart out with very lacklustre hands, and particularly a couple of hours later when I saw the hands they had! Still, that’s poker.

 

Hopefully another year it will be my turn. Anyway, a good result for Catherine O’Brien who has played on the Betfred Tour. She finished sixth in the final!

 

Anyway, I am now being called for my flight, so gotta dash!

 

If I am not in Swansea on July 4 hopefully it means I’m playing in the main event…I can dream, can’t I? 

 

Just a quick update… I didn’t get around to sending this blog to Betfred until I had been in Las Vegas for nearly a week, and my run in tournaments has never been so bad. Any hand that could be beaten has been beaten…aces cracked, kings cracked... two pairs counterfeited – all in ahead of being outdrawn… blah blah blah…I could go on, but I think I’ll go and drown myself first in the Bellagio lake! Cash has been a bit better, thank God! 

 

My luck must change

 

My luck must change

 

My luck must change…

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