Forum League

Gutshot are running a couple of interesting promotions right now (online). One is the Sit-n-Go league - points are awarded on a weekly basis for 1st and second place finishes in 1-table tournaments.

I used to play in this when it was running last year but, in order to play enough games (50 per week is the optimum), I had to play 5-seat extreme turbo tables. Actually I quite enjoy those, but anyone would have to concede that there is a good deal of luck when the blinds double every two hands !

This time around, I will want to play in "proper" SnG's so I'm not sure if I have time to do it properly. We'll see. I played 3 today and won 1. Winning 1 out of 3 consistently would be good enough for a very high finish but 3 is a very small sample ! Actually, I won one out of one, then finished 6th/10 in the next two.

The other promotion is the Forum League. This is a series of weekly MTTs that are exclusive to registered members of the Gutshot forum ($20 Freezeouts). It would be fun just to play the other forum members for the sheer competition of it all. But, as an additional spur, there is a 2009 WSOP package up for grabs - each month the league winner qualifies to the final in December.

So - first night tonight. There were 28 runners (presumably it will be more in later weeks). I knew at least 20 by their screen-names.

Early on, I had pocket-7s in the small blind. There was an EP raise and several calls. It was pretty clear cut to call to hit a set. Q73 flop, with two clubs. I checked. The pf raiser bet, called in two spots. I re-raised. One player moved all in for just a few chips more. He had AQ. I knocked him out and moved into the chip lead.

Later on, it was back to the aggressive poker that saw me do well in the WSOP qualifier. I won more races than I lost, and because I was rarely all-in, I wasn't often in real danger. As we approached the bubble (only 3 places paying), I knocked two players out - holding AT vs JT and AJ vs A8 respectively. I was a big chip leader with 5 left and although it became rather close with 3 left, I duly went on to win the thing.

The actual $280 won is handy, and counts as 280 points towards this month's league. I presume this will not be enough on its own but it's the best start I could hope for !

I'm on a hat-trick ..... they'll be out to get me now.