Ready to earn a free seat to a major poker event using PokerDome.com’s group sign up program? Joe was.

Joe, a professional poker player from the UK, was one of the first recipients of a free seat earned through the group sign up program exclusively available at PokerDome.com. He was gracious enough to provide us a recap of his tournament performance at the world famous Victoria Casino in London.

Joe’s group of poker player friends contacted us back in early March about playing in the $100,000 guaranteed BlackBelt Poker London Live II event sponsored by Neil Channing’s online poker staking site. To earn their $250 live event seat, they formed a group of five and completed our deal at WSOP Poker in less than a week.

Joe’s group leader informed us that Joe had won the seat, so we shipped him the buy-in and a PokerDome.com shirt to wear at the event.

Here is Joe’s recap of his performance at the BlackBelt Poker London Live II:

Hi PokerDome.com,

Thanks again for the free seat to the BlackBelt Poker London Live II. Unfortunately, I busted at half 11 at night on Day 1B. It was a great tournament though.

This is the action i got myself involved in ……..

Everyone started off with a 20,000 stack, the starting blinds were 25/50 and there was a 45 min clock.

I opened up with a raise the very first hand with a suited AQ in middle position, only the big blind called, the flop came 7 high and it was checked to me so I led out and he called. The turn was an A, so top pair for me. He leads out, which I though was a bit strange, so I decided to raise and see how strong his hand really is. He just flat calls, so I felt like he had a middle A and my AQ was good. The river was a J and he leads out for a pot size bet. I decided to give him credit for at least two pair at this point and I fold. He later told me he had AJ so I was right.

A few hands later I pick up KK my fav hand, two limps in the pot, so I raise it up to 425 letting the whole table know i got a big hand. I received 3 calls. flop came A,K,J two spades. I’d made a set of k’s. Everyone checks actions on me, I felt like I had to lead out at this point because there were way to many drawing hands. I lead out for 900 almost 3/4 of the pot. Two folds and the small blind calls. Turn comes a blank 5 hearts. Small blind checks again. At this point in the hand I feel like he’s got a hand like 10,j or even Q,J and he’s looking to fill his straight draw as cheap as he can. I bet again this time I make it 1200 almost trying to get a call. River comes a small spade and he bets out for 1000. Tbh, I didn’t truly believe he had the flush, so just in case he had checked the monster Q,10 for two straight streets I just call. To my surprise, he flips over 5,3 of spades! Wowww.

The very next hand I get AK off, there’s already a raise out so I three bet and take down the pot.

A few hands later I pick up QQ, this time in the big blind. There was a raise and two calls so again I three bet receiving only one caller. The flop came 8,4,K, so I lead out at the pot and get flat called. Turned comes a J, I decided to slow down at this point as I noticed he was intently staring over at me and I thought he had a big hand. He bets out relatively small so I just flat call with the intention of checking down on the river to keep the pot small. River comes A I didn’t feel like this had helped anyone and I also didn’t feel like he would believe I had one so I chose not to represent the A and just checked again. He also quickly checked behind. He flipped over a set of 8 wooww I got away cheaply. I was reading well.

I was down to about 14,000 at this point as my big hands were getting me into trouble.

Half way into the second level I get pocket 9′s I open for a raise to 375 receiving one caller, Flop comes k high and I check he leads out I call, Turn comes Q I check he leads again I muck. I didn’t show much strength throughout this hand but just genuinely felt he had connected quite hard with either the flop or turn.

I was certainly heading in the wrong direction.

A few hands later I get A,10 off in big blind. There was a raise and two calls. I decided to just flat the raise and peel a flop. Flop comes 10 high. Small blind checks I lead out for half pot which was about 650 bet, which gets two folds, but the small blind calls. Turn 10 and I am loving my hand. Small bets out which I was surprised by. I thought she may have had a small two pair on the flop and is now just trying to represent the 10 in the hope that I don’t have it, so I decided to just flat and see if she will bite and make a bet on the river. River comes a blank she fired again this time betting 1500 Into a pot of 4500 I felt like she either had the small two pair which had been counter fitted by the two ten’s or she was holding a weak suited 10 like a 10,9 or something similar. I decided to raise and unfortunately she folded, but I picked up a good size pot.

I was almost back to my starting stack of 20,000.

Its level four now. I get AK suited in the big blind. First position opens making it 3X, Everyone folds I three bet trying to induce a shove out of him as he’s fairly short. He thinks for ages at least a good 3-4 mins and finally shoves. I know I am massive now so I call. He flips AQ off. Perfect for me to pick up a 15,000 pot. Flop comes three clubs, I’d flopped the nuts. Very pleased to pick up that pot I felt a lot more comfortable at the table now that I had some chips.

I’m stacking 29,000.

I really start to pick the pace up on my table and really put a lot of pressure on the smaller stacks.

I’m up to 39,000 now.

I pick up AQ off and smooth call a pre flop raise in position. Flop comes J high, he continuation bets, so I raise and he flats. Pot’s around 5k at this point. Turn comes a 9, He slows down and checks. I feel I have the best hand unless he’s checked a weak J on the turn. So I bet out for 3100 and he thinks and thinks and makes the call. I decided that it’s pretty unlikely that he now has a weak J as I think a weak J should probably fold there. He’s either got a drawing hand and checked for pot control or he’s setting me up for a big bluff on the river. River comes a blank and I think I’ve got the best hand. He bets out for 6,900 about half pot. I read the bet as weak as I honestly felt A high was good so I call and he mucks as I show AQ. I think he possibly had a hand like K,Q or K,10.

I’m up to around 50,000 now and I feel like I’ve made the table notice me after my call with A high.

It’s after dinner now and I’m still around the 50k mark about 70 people have bust leaving 130 and the average is a little over 39,000 I think.

I’m moved to a different table where I sit and watch a few hands. This table is playing tight and relatively small pots.

I’m in late position with a suited QJ, so I decided to open the pot up with a raise to 1200. I receive one call from the big blind. Flop comes Q,J,7. Big blind leads out for 1400 I re-raise with my two pair to 4,500 I wanna build a big pot but also not let any drawing hands get there cheaply. He calls. turn comes 6 and he checks. I decided that its hard for him to have flopped a set or two pair as I had flopped two pair so I put him on some kind of drawing hand like 9,10 or K,10. I bet another 4,500, I think this bet looks very strong, almost like I’m walking him into a huge hand. He calls after a min or two. River comes a 9. Oh no one of the worst cads in the deck for my hand. And yes, you guessed it, he bets out, making it 6,000 for me to call. I take a min a decided to pass. I feel like he had the straight as he knows I was strong, I wasn’t willing to let everyone see that I’ll call off on the river even when it’s pretty clear I’m beat.

Down to under average now, stacking only 38,000.

Blinds are 500,1000.

I’m in first position with AK off so I raise it up to 3.5k. Middle position ships all in for 14,000. Back to me and I make the call, I know this lady won’t have too much because she’d shipped in a few times before. She flips over 55 so it’s a race, Flop comes A,3,5 and I am pretty much dead.

Our big blind was very short and I woke up with pocket 4′s on the button so I decided to set him in knowing he probably would call but I was willing to race for the remainder of his chips. Lucky for him he woke up with a semi decent hand, A,8 off. Flop comes A high and the turn 8 just for good measure, lol.

It seemed like I couldn’t win a race and I was now getting short myself.

I managed to pick up a few blinds and re-build my stack back up to 27k.

I picked up AA finally lol. There was a pre flop raise to 5000, with the blinds now at 800-1600. So I decided just to ship my stack in rather than playing it tricky. The guy in the next seat thinks for ages then makes the call, Im sitting there thinking thank you thank you!
Folded back round to the original raiser who also makes the call. I couldn’t be in a better spot. Flop comes 9 high and the original raiser checks. The guy next to me bets out 16,000 the original raiser folds. I flip my AA and to my surprise he flips AA two. So we chop it up.

I’m stacking about 48,000-50,000 now and I get dealt AQ in the small blind. There was a raise to 4800 so I three bet to 10,200 knowing that my opponent would have to ship or fold. They decided to ship and I called the remaining 6,500. They had pocket 9′s so again another race. Unfortunately, yet again, I lost.

I managed to hold out without really losing or gaining anymore to my stack. So I had around 30,000 which was about 13-15 bigs.

I woke up with pocket 10′s and was faced with a raise of 5K so I made the decision to ship it over the top in the hope that I got a fold. He makes the call after a min and shows pocket J’s am in bad shape and I lose the pot.

I bust in 70TH Place at 11:20pm, long day lol.

I played well for the most part and tbh thought I was a bit unlucky not to have won some of those races.

I enjoyed the tournament very much and learnt a lot while playing.

Thanks again to all of you at PokerDome.com for the opportunity to play in a dream event at the Vic. My friends and I can’t wait to get started on another deal.

Click here to learn more about how Joe and his friends used PokerDome.com’s group sign up program to play the live event of his dreams!