DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009: The Full Tilt Espana Series - Barcelona Event, Day 2 (Evening)
The next three levels plodded along. I played positional poker, stole some blinds and won some small pots. My stack continued to go in the right direction without any hands going to showdown. With 36 players left, I was taken from my brilliant seat right at the rail (from which position Michelle was able to administer sporadic shoulder rubs) to a more central position in close proximity to the other 3 tables. The chip average was about 115K and I still had the chip-lead with 330K. I played zero hands for the next hour and then the following two hands took place in quick succession.

Hand 6 - Day 2, Blinds 2000/4000/400, 315K
It got folded round to the short-stack on the button who shipped it for 52K. I looked down at 33 in the Big Blind and tanked. A very marginal spot, I knew I could justify either folding or calling. After about four minutes of deliberation, I called and he flipped up JQ. I tabled my 3s and we were off to the races. The flop came J-Q-7 and I was down to a 2-outer. No crabs on turn or river and I had lost my first significant pot in almost 8 hours of poker.

Hand 7 - Day 2, Blinds 2500/5000/500, 260K
I raised to 13K in early position with AK suited. It folds round to the same guy who just won the JQ/33 hand against me. In the interim, he has put his new chips to good work, adding further to his stack so when he decided to shove back at me, he shoved for 155K. I took a few minutes before calling. A King on the flop and another on the turn restored me to the chip-lead as I rocketed up to 420K. High fives all round for my railbirds and a kiss for my huney!

I did my best to abuse the bubble and got myself up to 460K by the time it burst. With 20 players remaining, we were told we would play down to 18. That didn't take long as the two German lads at my table - Joachim and Julian - were simultaneously in both 'ultra-aggressive' and 'running like Jesus' mode! By the end of the day, they had the lead and I was third in chips with 440K.