Nine nine nine

Played the Fitz rebuy yesterday which was great value with effectively over 2K added. The 2K added brought a few good players out of the woodwork: my first table featured Noel Hayes (to my immediate left - we had an interesting natter), Irish Ladies champion Sinead Constant, Kevin Fitzpatrick (who as I've said before I regard as one of the best players in Ireland), and a couple of good young LAGs I've seen around. Anyway, after losing my mandatory first buyin, I got a flyer just before the break when I won a 4 way all in (with JJ).

From there, I just steadily accumulated chips to have 60K by the time there were about 20 left. A couple of lost races saw me clinging on the bubble, and by the time the FT formed I had 3 big blinds. There wasn't much play for anyone at that point: average M was 3, and a massive chipleader was skewing the average to the point that many of us had an M of less than 2. My first shove took down the blinds, my second (aces, called by KQ) more than doubled me up to 70K, and suddenly I'm third in chips. But M still under 4!

It all went in two hands, both pocket 9's. First a shortie shoved utg for half my stack and with blinds and antes meaning I was getting 6 to 4 if nobody else called, it was a standard shove once everyone else folded to my button. I lost the race to AT.

Next hand, 9's in the cutoff, the hyper aggro chipleader raised and I again shoved, this time losing a race to KJo, to exit in 8th for 200 Euro. Better than nothing but a disappointing chance lost. The FT was pretty weak apart from a couple of very capable young guns who knew what they were doing, and the top 2 prizes were over 2K with the added ticket. Example: Fitz regular Frank raises utg+1 to 11K, leaving about 80K behind. At this point he's second in chips. Chipleader shoves on the button, Frank calls with J9o. Up against AK, flop Axx, turn 9, river 9.

At the break I met El Stuntman (who was unlucky to bubble) and Rounders (not his real name). They suggested I accompany them for liquid refreshment and instead of agreeing instantly (the correct line given the villains involved) I had a brain fart and instead opted to stay and eat a few soggy sandwiches. Bad beat.

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