MONSTER!!

This was a hand of interest from last weekend, it kind of played it's self but took a few years off my life! It was the single biggest pot I’ve seen on £2/5 NL tables on crypto and was a nice one to pick up. I’d only been playing for about 30mins on Sunday morning and on one table I’d already managed to turn my £500 sit down into £1165.

Hawko was at the table and we always seem to have fun running moves past each other. I’m on the small blind and first to act makes it £15 to go. Hawko smooth calls and I look down to find AA and smooth call as well.

The big blind who is playing £937 decided to push all in!! Magic!! But wait! The initial raiser (only playing £257) decides to join the fun and calls all in!

Without 2 seconds thought Hawko adds in his full stack of £548 all in!!

Action on me, preflop pot of £1757… 900 odd to call and I’m on AsAd!!

I think about letting it go for a split second! I’m already £665 up at the table, I’ve only got £15 in the pot and it’s going to be one hell of a 4 way race and I’m 50% fav at best. But to cover my money I only have to beat the BB as his stack is so much bigger than everyone elses. I call and we flip over….

1st to act short stack AcTc
Hakwo KdKh
Me AdAs
Big Blind QcQh

Now I don’t like the all in by the QQ… it’s a muppet move, especially with a big stack, I bet he plays a lot of tournies.

The AT call is a tilt call by the short stack looking to get lucky.

Poor old Hawko has been stitched up like a kipper by the big blinds all in. He fancies him self to be in front as his smooth call with KK shows no strength at all and the BB all in just stinks of a vulnerable pair. He can’t put me on a hand either with my smooth call so he drops his pants and sticks in all his chips. As soon as he sees me call he knows I’m on AA.

2d Td Ts is the flop.

Now while not the best flop in the world, I’m not too bothered as the AT is only playing for a 1k side pot. Providing I can avoid a K or Q I’m still going to pick up a nice pot.

Turn is 4d

My eyes now flick to the suits and a moment of panic as the 1st one I see is Hawkos Kd… back to mine and I breath easier as I spot the Ad.

River Jd …. Gives me the nut flush and a very health pot of £2691.99 … £1754 of which is pure profit!!

Nice! Needless to say after the bad start Feb is now cruising along nicely.


On a side note Betfair have just announced a series of guaranteed WSOP packages for high rake cash players. At my current average I’d get a $8k WSOP package if I move to BF for the next 4months!!! With a little more play that would become a $15k package!! WSOP here we come!!

Live and kicking (myself!)

Live play is something that I’ve only dabbled with over the past year or so, I quite enjoy the live cash games at the festivals as they tend to be really loose and full of action. When it comes to live tournaments I’ve only played a couple of the smaller buy in events at one or two festivals and the £25 weekly buy in down the local pub.

The Mrs always groans when I go to play live because she thinks I’m going to lose. But thinking about it my live record is not too bad considering the number of event I’ve played. I won a £20 rebuy Super Sat at the Luton fest last year for £500 (and took the money), apart from that I’ve only played in a £50 and a £100 at Blackpool last year and Duffs (from betfair) £100 home game.

With Estonia looming I thought it would be a good idea to get a bit more live experience under my belt. The £100 rebuy and the £300 at the Broadway Heart of England Festival looked like good candidates. They were both 2 days events with hour clocks and room for plenty of play.

The £100 on Tuesday was a bit of a none starter as far as I was concerned. In the first 4 hours the best hands I picked up were 99 (twice) and AKos. I managed to pick up a few pots here and there but eventually had to get my dwindling stack in with AT on a QQT flop… a big stack obliged with JK and a 9 on the turn sent me packing a little frustrated at not being able to get going.


I was in two minds about returning on the Thursday for the £300. The 5am finish to the day before didn’t leave me feeling on top form. It would be the biggest tournament buy-in I’ve paid in direct (both live and online) but having said that it's no big deal when you consider the level of cash games I play in everyday. I finally decided to drag myself over to Brum to see if I could improve on the previous days outing. I’m glad I did.


The field was rich and varied. There were a few people who had never played a game before and then a load of seasoned pros arriving for the bigger comps later in the week. When I went to take my seat I had Steve Jelinek to my left and Bambos Xanthos to my right. I’d recently seen both of these on the William Hill Grand Prix that is being screened on Sky Sports at the moment (on every Tuesday and one of the best poker shows I’ve seen in a long time!) and so I had half an idea on how they played.

The guy to Jelineks left was knocking down the pints and had never played in a comp before. He devoured Jelineks chips almost as quickly as his lager with a Khigh over flush. I had a fairly patient start and managed to accumulate about 8K (6k starting) by the end of the 2nd level.

As the night progressed I gradually started to settle down and become more comfortable. I don’t think I take to the live game naturally like some players. In the past I’ve found myself making decisions that I would not make online and playing hands less subtly than is normally the case. The same was true in this game to a certain extent. Every now and again I’d find myself making silly bets or calls and 3 seconds later thinking… WHY DID I JUST DO THAT?!!?

Myself and Bambos both got moved to the same table and I was nursing a 10-15k stack for some time as more and more players were making an exit. I made a conscious decision to step up a gear and really started to enjoy my self. I re-raised Bambos three times preflop and he was starting to get the hump, the only time we saw a flop he walked his AQ into my AK.. which was nice. On the 4th time he layed down he said …

“Next time I call you!!” … he showed AJ and I declined to show my AK.

10mins later he was packing his bags so we never got to lock horns again.

The chap 2 to my left was a decent player (he was Welsh and a mate of Ewan Jones, I may be wrong but I think he was called Nick). I’d played a few hands and had not lost many but was still stuggling to push past the 15k barrier. I finally found a spot on the BB after ‘Welsh Chap’ had min raised it to 1600 from an early position. He picks up 3 callers and I look down to see AQ, I don’t have to think about it too hard… No one is showing much strength (except maybe the early position min raise) and with 7600 in the pot I push allin looking to pick it up.

Everyone folds apart from a short stack who has about another 4k left. He flips Q8s and I’m VERY happy. That is until the flop comes 456, the turn is a killer 8… and the river a very welcome 7 for a split pot!!

Shortly after that I pick up a 15k pot from the table rock with a total bluff into a scary looking flop and turn of Td Jd Ks Kd. I’d re-raised him preflop with 6d6s and he obviously gave me credit as I pumped a couple more strong bets in.

I’d raised the Welsh guys BB a number of times (including the occasional ham fisted raise) and he’d passed a few and called a few but was generally coming out with the worst of it and was starting to get the hump.

I picked up QhJs on the button and everyone passes to me. I raise to 4k (about 3 x the BB) and my Welsh friend calls with a hint of irritation. Flop comes rags with 2 spades and we both check. Turn brings a third spade and he checks. I chuck in 3k and he flat calls.

The river comes Qs. He reaches for his greens and launches 7k into the pot. Now, I thought at the time he was a bit too confident in the way he did it, I just had the feeling that he is simply betting out on the scare card, what more I know he's capable of the move- or maybe I’m just a calling station!? I flat call and pick a decent pot when he flips Kh rag.

By this time it is pushing 4:30am with play due to complete for the day at 5:15am I’m sat on a very healthy 50k stack, there are about 22 runners left with 720000chips in play and the blinds at 800/1600. I actually think to myself..


“Bit tired, nothing silly , come back tomorrow fresh and ready for action”

Unfortunately, it was not to be! After the QJ incident my Welsh mate is passing quite a few comments and appears to be a bit unhappy with my assault on his BB… we tangle again when I raise his BB with KQ. He is lucky to catch one of his rags on the flop but we both check down and he picks up the minimum.

With about 15mins of play left it’s my SB and again I’m in a pot with my mate. He raises to 2.8k from an early position and everyone folds to me, I wake up with AK and make it another 5K to play… saying “It’s nothing personal” as I chuck them in.

He snaps back “No..neither is this…ALL IN!!”

The situation is about 18k in the pot, and he pushed for another 30K. I’ve got just shy of 45K left in front of me and a decision to make.

Up pops the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other…..

Angel: Jim, you’d pass this normally.
Devil: Fuck that! There’s 18K in the pot your getting about better than 3/2 on your money.
Angel: Yes, but look you’ve got 45k left…. That’s a big stack!!
Devil: But look at the prize money … only £700 for 10th… 15k for 1st!!!! Play to WIN, get this pot and you will be chip leader. There’s only 19 players left.
Angel: But he must have a pair. It’s a race for most of your chips.
Devil: Don’t be a pussy, he’s really got the hump with you messing with his BB… I bet hes got TT or JJ at best. CALL!
Angel: Oh fuck it CALL!

And so I call… I know I’m behind. I normally would not have a problem passing this… Perhaps the fact it was 5am and I’d been playing for 9hrs came into it somewhere. The ‘play to win’ element is also something I’ve been trying to work into my tournament game and may have also skewed my judgement a little.

He flips KK and it’s 70%/30%

I pick up a gutshot draw on the flop with a Q and a T. I then pick up a flush draw on the turn… 14outs on the river … but it was not to be!

I know it’s a poor call. File it under lessons learnt… Please feel free to comment on it.


A blind goes through me and I’m down to about 10k, there’s 5 mins of play left in the day, and I look down to see AcKc. I make it 5 to go and everyone folds to the BB who puts me all in. I call and he flips…KK again!!!!

No help again and I’m out in 18th (120 runners). The only silver lining is that I don’t have to return today to play a micostack.

I shake hands with my Welsh friend and confirm that there are no hard feelings. I wonder what he thought of me? Probably, that I’m a bit rash and inexperienced, and I guess he’d be right. There is one way to fix that though ,isn’t there?

Despite the manner of the exit, I really, really enjoyed myself. Once I’d picked up a few hands I got into the swing of things I surprised myself with how much confidence and lack of fear I played with. It was a quality field and I was happy to go so deep. Although a little foolish and unlucky not to cash, it’s given me something to think about and now I can’t wait until the next one…roll on Estonia.


Good luck,

Jim

Wild start to Feb and Estonia here we come!!

Well Feb has been a little crazy so far. I got off to the worst possible start as I managed to drop 2.5K on the 1st! This was swiftly followed by more losses on the 2nd , 3rd and 4th!! The month had hardly started and I was already staring a 5k negative in the face, the bank roll was flashing amber and it was time to sit down take stock and see how the month could be rescued.

I decided to take a day off and have a look back at how I had been playing… the answer came back- not very well. I managed to get my head straight and for the next week played some great cash poker, making great laydowns and some good calls. Hey presto 4 days later and I’m back in the black and showing a 2k plus for the month to date.

Now, obviously I’m really happy with the recovery. It just shows what you can achieve if you really put your mind to it and your back is against the wall. But it would have been very nice to win 7K in 4 days without having lost 5K beforehand. All I need to do now is more of the same and make sure I post a bumper month.

On Sunday evening I spotted the Hills Baltic Open Super Satellite about to start. It was great value, only 36 runners at 220euros each playing for 4 x 3.2k packages which included the buyin to the 2000+200 main event.

The game was also a 6 seater which suits me just fine. It was one of those tournies where I ducked and dived without putting my stack in jeopardy and before you know it I was chip leader with about 15 runners left. I managed to blow half my stack when my flopped set ran into a made flush on the turn, but the table was fairly passive and I managed to grab most of it back fairly quickly. The chip leader status was maintained more or less until the last six. The final table started fairly even in chips… three players between 11k and 16k and the other three around the 8k mark. The other big stacks wasted no time in paying off the short stacks and everyone played tight for a long time on similar stacks until we lost the 6th player.

Here was where my stack started to dwindle, I had trouble finding a decent spot and had to lay down a half decent hand on the SB after I’d raised the BB and he pushed for all my chips. Patience was the order of the day! But I was looking increasingly like the table short stack on 8k with the others between 12k and 20k. With the blinds at 300/600 with rolling antes the pressure was starting to mount playing 5 handed on the bubble at 1200 a round.

I managed to nick a few pots to maintain my chip stack around the 8k mark when two similar sized stacks got into a preflop raising war and ended up all in, this obviously was great for me as the loser would either be out or down to just a few hundred chips.

Mateyboy #1 flips AcKs and my heart sinks as mateyboy#2 flips AdKd, a split pot looms and it looks like I’m going to have to gamble to survive…. that is until no less than four diamonds hit the community!! Mateyboy #1 curses his luck and is out the next hand as 3 players check him down for his last 800 chips.

I’M OFF TO ESTONIA!!!! :o)

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not the biggest win ever at a 3.2k package but I’m really, really chuffed.

I’ve often looked across with green eyes at friends winning these sats and jetting off to the far flung corners of the world. But playing 99% cash games I was never going to join them was I? One of my goals for 2006 was to enter some satellites and qualify for a few bigger buy-in events. Well get that box ticked!

The only downside is that Shell is well into her 3rd trimester (everything going well so far) and she can’t fly. So it looks like I’m going on my tod!

Two sides of the same coin

Tournament or cash? A recurring gripe from many people takes the form of…

“I’m a successful tournament player and I’ve spent 6months building up my bank roll, last week I decided to give the NL cash tables a try, it’s full of fish but I’ve blown 80% of my roll, I can’t understand it!”

So why is it that so many people who are perfectly competent STT and MTT players struggle so much when it comes to playing with real money. I think there are several reasons, first of all the bank roll required to play successful tournament poker is much smaller than the roll required for cash games. The no limit cash games can be especially brutal and your hard earned can evaporate at an alarming rate. Before you know it you’ve reloaded 4 times and your sphincter is tighter than a multi-tabling Scandinavian. It maybe that these losses are in permissible range for a decent bank roll but the impact on the average tournie roll can be catastrophic.

It’s about this point where the tilt monster raises his head and it’s harder to draw a line under a loosing cash session than it is a tournament. In a tournament, you lose, that’s it, you’re out! You can’t get back in and get revenge on the fishy bastard who just sucked you out, in a cash game the option and the temptation to reload is always there.

There is also a massive misconception held by the majority of tournament players about cash games as well. I was playing in a live cash game recently and a chap who has a reputation for playing solid tight tournament poker made a call for all his chips with 2nd pair with 3 spades out in the community. He lost and when I questioned the call, he said …

“It’s a cash game isn’t it? I can reload. I wouldn’t have called in a tournie!”

Now it may have been that he was just blowing off a bit of steam, but you hear the sentiment repeated time and time again. They think that you should play looser in a cash game when in fact the opposite is true.

In a tournament the blinds are constantly moving forward, putting you under pressure. This pressure towards the middle/end of the game forces you to make more elaborate ‘moves’ and get your chips in with half decent hands more frequently. Top pair could be a behemoth of a hand in the latter stages of a tournament and may well merit getting all your chips in, thanks to the ever increasing pressure a lot of the time you will get action from an inferior hand.

But is the same true in a cash game?? Without the pressure of the increasing blinds the value of your hands is reduced…so why play looser?? No one at the table is being forced to overplay their hand and if you start to over play your hand the only action you are likely to get is from someone with a better hand.

Doubling up is a frequent occurrence in a tournament due to the nature of the game. In a £1000 sit down NL cash game you can blow it in one hand with ease and if the cards are not going your way you can wait all day for the chance to get it back!

In my opinion betting out (or as is more frequently is the case , calling) with a good, but not great hand is the main reason why tournament players come unstuck in cash games.

They sit there thinking….

“I can always reload! It’s a great hand!”

When they should be thinking…

“I value my chips! Is this the best spot to get my money in!”

Post Christmas Depression

Well the January month end has been and gone and looking back Jan was a pretty disappointing month. It saw some big up swings and some big downswings. I somehow managed to get to the 20th Jan looking at a 5k loss for the month to date. This was (as always) due to 3 or 4 days of nasty beats and no action followed by a tilt day where the best part of 3K went south. It always amazes me how easy it is to blow a stack in minutes that may take weeks to rebuild.

I have ventured more onto £5/10 in Jan and when reviewing the tracker statistics to see where it all went wrong I was half expecting to see the majority of the losses coming from those tables. True, one or two bad sessions did stick out but there were more than enough good sessions to compensate. The true culprit was some shocking sessions on 2/5.

On one occasion I was overflushed 3 times in one session, each time it was marginal… 7 high into 9 high, J high into Q high and then to cap it off Q high into K high with the Ace out in the community. I also felt that I was getting hammered when I held big pairs more than usual, I lost count of number of times AA and KK got cracked once a flop was out.


Poker tracker confirmed this, the % win with AA was low 80s and only 75% when it saw a flop! I’d expect these figures to be around 90% and 85% respectively.

Kings faired worse; in Jan I picked them up 126 times and only won £880 with them!! I made more that that with every other pocket pair bar 22 and 33. Any month where your premiums are being hammered to this extent is going to be a struggle!

Fortunately, the tide turned in the last 10 days. Some solid poker meant that the loosing sessions were minimised and when the cards were going my way the profits for the days were well into 4 figures. The only cloud has been twice in two days where I have been sat on a 1K+ profit for the day and I managed to piss most of it away in one evening session! The 2nd of these occurred last night where I walked into some monsters to blow away earlier positives. It does not get much better than AsQs on Qh Ts 6s flop…..unless the other guy is nursing 66.

In the end I turned out to be a fairly neutral month, the best part of £2k rakeback helped keep things afloat and a modest profit made it a just about acceptable if not decent start to 2006.

Looking forward I need to stamp out the big swings. The current bank roll is not robust enough for prolonged sessions on £5/10 and needs to be bolstered further over the next quarter, the next target is to work it up to a £20k baseline. I may well dabble in some live events in Feb as well, there’s a Festival at the Broadway in Brum and I quite fancy some of the midweek events.


Cheers,

Jim