We’re finally here. My Grading finished where it began, on a nice session of runbad, but considering my start, I’m proud to be here at the end. The week ended with London Live, a triumph of an event that seemed to be enjoyed by all. A well-structured event with a buy-in that sends no one broke but offers bonuses equalling a serious amount of change in anyone’s pocket? They could be on to something there. Luckily, for more players than people will realise, Channing rungood ensured the event was not won by anyone eligible for the top bonuses meaning similar events are much more likely to be put on in the future.
My London Live story began with me shooting up to 37,000 early. Jesse May told Barny Boatman he had been outplayed on all three streets. I thought that was a rather generous assessment of our flush over flush encounter. I peaked at 75,000 but my obvious demise came with the standard cooler of two pair versus ten high. In fairness, double belly-busters are quite hard to hit and I suppose he’s not really supposed to have queen-six in that situation. My fall came at a level near the end of Day One that proved a banana skin for almost all doing the Graders. Well done to Ermyas for repping for the Graders and falling just the right side of the money bubble. I bet the Irish are quaking in their boots.
A full self-assessment of my Grading would take more than one blog entry. I think we find out the results by the 24th March. All I can really hope is that I’ve given a good account of myself over the sample. My commitment has been pretty solid, I’ve mixed in some cash and some SNG hours and have been fairly on top of it throughout. My community contribution has probably been my most successful area, but that’s easy. The hand analysis and support is one of the things that attracted me to Black Belt Poker in the first place so this never felt like a chore. It was fantastic to receive some really nice feedback from random people on my articles this weekend too. I’m particularly proud of them because they stemmed from leaks I found way back in Week One. To go from finding a leak, to teaching others on how to plug it really sums up the ethos of this site for me. My profit has not been good, but hopefully my stats will stand up under scrutiny. I also beat the rake for a good few buy-ins. The pots played in the Irish Open Main Event won’t be subject to a rake. Just putting that one out there.
My thanks go to my fellow Graders for the Skype sessions and support, Neil, Nik, Jen, Javed and everyone who’s name I don’t know for organising the whole process, Snoopy especially for his help with my ramblings, Adam Latimer again for his advice, Nicky Evans for his support in all areas of my Grading, Joe ‘I ship tournaments for fun and then just travel the world ‘cause I can’’ Campbell for his encouragement from overseas, my girlfriend Jess for not dumping me, my Mum for bringing me more than one dinner mid-grind, and literally everyone I’ve talked poker with over the past six weeks. No matter who gets the Irish open packages, all those who made it through have taken something valuable from the Grading, and in that way we are all winners really. Until the 24th, that is.
That’s my Grading blog done. Thanks for reading.