Paul De Sousa

[qh][2h] that was my final hand that I had to win.

Made a flush on the turn and I put the last player all in and won the freezeout.

I like winning, in fact I love winning but even though I won a big game today I feel sad for 2 reasons.

a ) I sucked out against Sascha (a very good player )
b ) I knocked out Paul CLaven on the final table

we started off with 10 000 chips, I had a player to my right who was limping with HUGE monsters, AK, KK, JJ, all the dude would do would be to limp, regardless of his position, so it was difficult to figure out where you stood against this dude. I was bleeding chips to him.

I make top pair with an ace kicker, he has a higher pair that he limped with, I fire 3 bullets with AK at an unpaired board and he flats calls me all the way to the river with pocket 4′s. So eventually I decide to wait , bide my time and take all his chips when I have a made hand.

Eventually I was down to 3500 in chips, made some moves with some cards and managed to claw my way up to about 9000 chips when I get pocket 3′s

board comes AA rag, I call a small raise from someone in early (even though I would normally have just mucked) , the monster – limper dude calls behind me, checked the turn and found a 3 on the river.

Push and the monster – limper dude calls me with ak, bonus! no preflop raise, no raise on the flop, no bet on the turn.

He slow played himself into trouble. not my fault.

Next hand I make another boat, 10′s full of kings, take another 8k in chips.

anyway I start getting some great hands, jj, kk , qq, again qq , get my stack up to 60 k then I find KK, some other dude limps, I make a FAT raise, 3.5 BB, he flat calls, the board is queen high, he bets, I shove, he thinks then calls, flips 9 10 suited and goes runner runner to make a straight.

I was livid!!!  He still tunes me that he thought I was bullying him, yet the entire game I was only playing premium hands.

so I am down to 25k, at this point fivecard (paul) tells me to go have a smoke and not tilt, I obey then play a few more hands, make a position steal, up to 28k.

Move tables, still bitter about my beat, Fivecard sends me an sms telling me to byt vas and hang in, that really calmed me down.

I lose a big pot, down to 14k, double up, double up, make some steals, find some cards and land up with about 80k in chips when the last 2 tables are joined with the last 10 players.

I called a massive raise with 8 10 ( I Initially thought the raise was 3 x bb and the raiser normally tries to steal, she uses position well , anyway I misread the raise and called it anyway after saying call )

I catch my 10, theres a potential straight happening, she bets out another 20 k and I shove. she contemplates for a long time before calling, missing her straight and doubling me up to about R170k.

Paul’s set of 7′s knocks Henry out, crushing Henry’s QQ.

then something awful happened, fivecard who was sitting very strong in chips, called some blokes all in, as did Sascha, fivecard catches an ace on the flop and decides to check (collusion check) to just knock the other player out, the board goes A2345, Sascha shoves and Paul calls the huge all in, Sascha shows pocket 6′s against Paul’s AJ.

I have never in my life felt so horrified! it was a tad unfair but hey, that’s poker for you.

couple more players get knocked out, I raise Paul with my AJ, he calls with k10, I hit a jack I think, and knock him out.

3 players left if I remember correctly, (I think Paul went out in 4th) dude shoves with king high on my BB I had to call, with my j2, and flop comes 22 rag.

Heads up me and Sascha, She’s got like a 7th of my stack, she had 60 k when we started HU and I was sitting with about 360 k in chips but I double her up twice.

then find q2, call her raise, 2 hearts on the flop, call her bet, heart on the turn and I raises her all in, game over, R10k first place prize.

Even though it was a nice win, I was disappointed in the way that things turned out.

Of the Final Table, I am friends with 5 of the people that played, Paul, Sascha, Leroy, Bianka and Henry.

Familiar faces always. The other players however I was not familiar with.

I despise the fact that I like the people I land up beating. I hate the fact that I am friendly and make friends with people that I lose to or crush with my check raises.

But that being said I am still amped about my win and the way I played today.

I’ll say this much, I did not make any mistakes the entire day, as in call bad hands and lose. The pots I did lose were not pots I called and lost, I got called and lost to better hands, but I made few, if any calls where I was behind in anyway.

I mucked a few good hands, and even mucked top 2 pair on an unpaired board. For once I played almost flawless poker, sucking out when I needed to and winning the hands that I set out to win.

oh yeah and I got myself uninvited from a poker game on Friday after getting a late invite, rocking up and knocking out the resident top player 15 minutes into the game.

I wont forget the one dude’s words to Paul (fivecard) who got me the invite :

“You sposed to bring fish, not sharks   “