Online poker break- doing well. Havent played a hand in what feels like an eternity and don’t miss it.
New job is much more tiring and satisfying, GET IN!
Played 2 tournaments at Luton recently. I played a £5 re-buy for the fun of it and a quick peek at cheeseypoker.com showed that the 1st prize in this is often £500+. That is superb for this number of runners at these stakes. Well, sat down at a loosey table and quickly saw there were only 35 runners. Played my usual game and got to see top trips TWICE in the opening 2 levels and get paid on both. Starting stack= 500. End of level 2 = 4.7k. Sitting pretty I then get hit when my opponent outplays me and makes me lay down the best hand with a well timed bluff (move logged-tell located!!).
A little after the rebuy period ends I broke a regular when this happened. I get dealt A10d in the cutoff in a pot with 2 mp limpers. SB limps also and we see a flop of J6A rainbow. SB,BB and 1st limper bets ¼ of the pot. It comes to me and I decide to buy some info and raise 2/3 of the pot. All fold round to the 1st limper who asks me how many chips I have, when he can clearly see we have about the same amount. He says "im putting you all in". Now this is out of character and overtly aggressive, I know the player is a nice guy. BUT he did limp in EP and I think he is good. Now previously I would prolly fold this hand here as there is a chance he has something like JJJ or 666 or most likely AJ. But I go with my gut that he is bluffing and call and he shows J9. Nice try mate, but you’ll need to do better next time. No lucky spikes and I’m one of the leaders. I keep building my stack and then disaster strikes. I double up 2 short stacks when I get my chips in with marginal hands 88v AA preflop (ooops) and dump a fair few greens. But I cling on to the final table where I play ok. Basically my cards at this point were obsolete. I go all-in with 4,2 and steal the blinds form MP. Same again with 79s from the button. I then go 3 rounds without getting a chance to be the 1st raiser, any Ace, or any sort of pot odds. When its my BB I only have 2* the BB left so obv I defend with 7,6 v Q10 and lose. Never mind, 6th place I think.
Played the £10 re-buy comp at the same venue on Tuesday. Cracking tournament. Guy to my left is an excellent player and even better, he had the vvvvv bad habit of showing me his hand whenever he looked at his cards !!!! I saw EVERYTIME!!!!!
Morally wrong? Should I have said something? IMAO I think not. EVERYTHING that happens at the poker table is competitive. If he was a mate, id tell him. Table looked fairly soft. An elderly gent to my left thought 33 was a RERAISING hand pf. A guy 2 to my right bet his flush draws every time (as well as middle pair in multi-way pots) and the oriental guy opposite me was truly awful. Happy day’s. I double up early with JJ v 77 aipf. Then I get some more when I find AJ and call an all-in bet preflop by a loose cannon who shows A7. Then this little bitch. I have KJ in late position. 3 limpers, im not concentrating and limp also. MISTAKE! Cutoff limps (I didn’t even bother to see his hand as I was reading !!! doh!!). Flop comes K105 with 2 diamonds. All check, I bet the full pot with this connected board. Cutoff calls. EP calls also. Turn, a lovely black 6. As I cant put them on a made hand due to the dangerous nature of the board I go all in and get called by K5s (there is also a spade flush draw now). Fuckit. I rebuy and add-on after a couple of minor pots and end the re-buy with 3500.
After the break I find myself seeing a free flop from the BB with A9s. Flop comes A82. I check, as do the 3 others. Turn comes Q giving me a 4 flush draw also. I bet ½ the pot hoping to get action off someone with a Q. I get called by a rookie in late position. All of a sudden im worried about him having 2 pair (likely to be A2 based on previous betting patterns. River comes a 9. I look at the board and decide the best way to get paid is to make a "bluffalike" bet hoping that he puts me on a busted flush draw. I try and give out a reverse tell with a bit of chip banging and staring as I raise the full pot. Dumb move. Fuck reverse tells, I should have put him on a hand…THEN decided what to do. OBV in retrospect he has either a weak ace (doubtful), a Queen (likely), or a busted flush draw. Given that it is impossible to find out which I should go with % likelihood. If he has a busted flush, I should induce the bluff (which would have to be large given the pot size). ?If he has either of the other 2 I should value bet and sell my hand. I think (and feel free to disagree) that I should have bet v.small. This gives him the option to bluff if he percieves weakness, ensures he at least calls and allows me time to study him. He folds. He had QJ. Dang.
Little later I get chips when I have 10,6s in the BB. Flop comes Q93 with 1 heart. Turn is a 10hearts and I check raise when the Button (only other player involved, mediu7m stack) raises ½ the pot and I think he is flushing. He lays down J7hearts mentioning pot odds (a player like that is a genuine genius here).
Then all of a sudden we are down to 3 tables from 12. 1st prize is about £1500 so not to be sniffed at. Im hovering in push mode at about 6k chips (average is 10k). The blinds pass through me and im shown a "steal" by the button with AJ. He genuinely thought that was a move…?
I finally find AQs in MP and go all-in after an EP limper. He has 10’s. Flop is KKK. Turn 3, River Q! Lovely. Back into breathing space with 11k. 2 hands later I get KK UTG+1. EP player (vvv good indian older chap who has won a LOT of tournaments limps). Now this STINKS but im going with this hand. I raise the pot (effectively me all-in with only 2k held back) as blinds are 1600/800. All fold around to the BB, who must have coated his dentures in speed or something. Elderly, greying chap says this out loud…honestly, I couldn’t make it up…."Limp in trap 1, pot raise in trap 2, hmmmmmm……call". Ali gets out of the way in a micro (AJ) and we see a flop of AJ4. I think im fucked and start getting up, he says "you are way in front" and flips 44. Horrible 4 spike on the river and im in such a rush to get home (and I hate whingers at the table- save it for youtr blog ;) ) I don’t bother whining. The other players at the table berate the guy and tbh its vv frustrating when you don’t win those ones.If I win that im up to 24k and can start to prey on the shorties hovering around the 6k mark without being worried. Ces’t la poker, learnt a lot and had fun on my second table which was full of jokers.
Should play on Saturday but going to the theatre tonight and busy Sunday (shooting small furry things).
Have fun guys, remember, that’s the name of the game out there.