Perhaps, my head wasn’t right, perhaps I was a victim of circumstance, but when we dropped to 9 players I was no longer a big stack. John Juanda had been sat on my left and just basically outplayed me. This isn’t something I remember admitting to for a long while. I didn’t clash much with Eric, but marvelled at the way he turned a small stack into a monster in barely an hour. He had nerves of steel, as he called bets on the flop, turn and river. Most players would have folded or raised at much earlier points. The pots he won were therefore, considerably bigger.
So here I was at the final table of the PPT with all Cheri Casino three of them. Eric and Daniel were the two chip leaders. John was a small stack like myself. We were to play down to 6 players, who would make the money.
The action was fast as we lost one player, shortly followed by John Juanda. 7 left, and I was definitely the shortest stack. I moved all-in with an AQ and got called by a pair of 9s. The cameras zoomed in as an Ace hit the flip. Yabbadabbadoo! My joy was short lived though as a 2 on the river gave a board of A2345. Split pot with a straight, and I am still the man under pressure.
I only had 58,000 chips left which would not last me 20 hands. So when I was dealt a pair of 6s, they were all deposited in the middle. It was Chris Bigler’s obligation to be executioner. He called with a pair of 8s, and I didn’t get lucky. I was out on the so-called ‘bubble’. No consolation money for 23 hours of mental anxiety, torture and pain. I struggled to string a sentence together on my exit TV Interview. The attractive, cute presenter felt sorry for me. I was gutted . . . but I did wake up the following morning with a smile on my face. It had been fun. I think?
Dave ‘El Blondie’ Colclough is the European Cheri Casino Poker Player of the Year. He is sponsored by bet365poker, part of the bet365 Group Limited, one of the world’s leading betting and gaming groups. Dave writes a weekly column full of poker tips and his experiences playing professionally.