Less than a week after the badbeats of the WPT, it was time to lick my wounds and prepare for the biggest sit & go of my poker career – the televised World Open VI.

I spent the proceeding week watching previous coverage of the World Open on the web, along with a plethora of made for TV poker events to get me switched on for this very different format. Many of these shows featured my opponents, as over half of them had previously won a TV title, confirming what an extremely tough heat I had been drawn in.

My sleep patterns weren’t the greatest in the lead up to this event, but I arrived in Mayfair London for the second time in a week, again in great spirits and looking forward with relish to taking on this star studded line up.

On arrival at the casino, there was a delay in starting as the camera crew were running slightly behind, but this nervous time was made more comfortable by the friendly nature of some of the people involved in the show, including Mad Marty Wilson – The Tournament Director – and the lovely Kara Scott – Presenting for Channel Five.

From the research I had done I felt the seat draw could be vital and so I was reasonably pleased to have Ian Frazer and Peter Jetten on my right with James Akenhead and Marty Smyth on my left. I figured James and Marty would start quite tight, creating an opportunity to open with a wider range to their blinds with the aggressive Frazer and Jetten out of the way.
Unfortunately there was one fly in the anointment to this draw and boy did that get confirmed later down the line!

Sam Trickett had been placed directly on my left and buoyed by a tremendous World Series and EPT Villamoura, he had aggression written all over him from the off!

So, lights, camera, action and amidst lots of jovial table banter, I was straight into a tricky pot, just 3 hands in!

Ian Frazer opened x3 from mid position and I looked down at a nemisis hand of mine – AhQh.

With a deep 300k starting stack I elected to flat call in position and we saw a flop of 7h 8d 9h giving me the nut flush draw. As suspected Ian continued with 12k into the 17k pot and I decided a re-raise to 30k here could achieve two objectives:

1) I could take down my first pot down without a made hand against an aggressive player that would fire a continuation bet most of the time here.
2) It could disguise my flush draw and build up a potential large pot that might see him stack off should I hit my nut flush.

Obviously this was a nervous time for me, first TV pot and all, so Ian’s call and the 4c miss on the turn only added to the tension!

A check from Ian was therefore a relief and I decided a check behind was the correct play and pray for the heart or overcard.

The Js river could not have been worse and when Ian confidently led out with what felt like a milking bet – 25k into 77k, an easy fold was in order and I was left to immediately reflect on an unfortunate start and what might have been, had I hit one of my many outs.

His range definitely included mid pocket pairs plus TT, JT, JJ and above which meant a heart on the turn or river would have been very difficult for him to get away cheaply.

Two years ago the World Opens 100k starting stack might have seen me crippled but the subsequent increase meant this dent was quickly replenished just a few hands later in the following pot:

Sitting UTG I looked down at the ladies – QQ and raised the standard x3 to 6k which received a call in the BB from Ian again.

His check on the 9s 4c 2s board led me into a continuation bet of 10k into 13k to which he called.

The turn brought a reasonable looking Jd, so when he checked again, I stuck in an enticing bet of 15k into the 33k pot, hoping to charge the flush draw and value bet against a Jack. He called again and his subsequent check on the bricked 2c river, eased any worries and so I stuck in a thin value bet of 17k into 63k hoping to get called by one pair or induce a bluff from a busted flush draw. He seemed to think quite seriously about the latter but mucked and I took a large exhale as I picked up my first ever TV pot!

After pinching the blinds with 8 7 off and then folding J 10 out of position to a Sam Trickett 3bet, I planned on sitting back and observing for a few hands, but that wasn’t to be, as again I picked up an early monster with KK in the cutoff:

I raised it up x3 again to 6k and Sam Trickett, who had already been very active, disappointingly only flat called on the button leading to the BB coming along too.

When the flop brought 6h 4h 3h I double checked my hand to find I wasn’t holding the Kh and subsequently followed the BBs check with a 15k into 19k bet.

Sam called, the BB folded and I was optimally heads up and now praying for no heart.

The turn again could not have been worse, as not only did it bring the dreaded fourth heart, it was the Kh, meaning I would have to carry on with the hand regardless as I now had a redraw to the boat.

I checked and was pleased when Sam checked behind me, leading to thoughts that maybe he didn’t have a heart after all, as I started to put 88, 99, TT and JJ without a heart in his range. I had portrayed a tight image, being an unknown and only previously showing down QQ, so I imagined he would play the mid to high pocket pairs like this against my bets.

The river brought the 2c bringing straight possibilities and missing my re-draw, which left me with another tricky decision.

Did I want to face a meaty river bet by checking, knowing it was a close decision whether he had a heart or not?

I decided a small blocking bet of 20k into 68k would be the optimal play, as it could act as a value bet vs. his big hands that didn’t contain the heart and also cheaply stop me facing a really difficult decision should he bet around 3/4 of the pot.

After a dwell up, he begrudgingly called and my instinct told me had a weak heart as he annoyingly turned over 9h9c for the winning hand, leaving me last in chips on around 215k.

Just 3 hands later I got the pocket rockets – AA UTG and when my raise only took down the blinds (the first time a raise had got through unopposed at the table!), I was left wishing that these monsters had saved themselves for when the blinds were more meaningful!

We went to the break, with Sam Trickett taking a big chip lead and I was starting to detect this might not be my day.