Ever since the Gutshot opened, I've stayed away from the Tuesday and Friday rebuy comps, as I don't like the place when it gets too busy, but I decided to take the plunge last Friday to get back in the live poker groove.
It was, of course, full - 120+ runners. My table had the obligatory couple of drunks, who were a pain in the arse with their 'is it my turn?', 'what's the bet?' shenanigans, but they were loose as hell . I doubled up twice early with TT and AK when I reraised the guy immediately on my right, who called with raggy aces both times. At the end of the rebuy period, I had got my starting stack of 500 up to 3100, with no rebuys and no add-on, so I was in great shape.
Our table was the first to break, and I got moved to a very sober table. Raises were being respected, proper poker was played. I grew my stack (including one hand where I pondered calling an all-in with 64 on a 653 flop, before realising I had top pair and an up and down straight - 'what took you so long to call?' one of the other players asked afterwards), then went through a cold spell until a crucial hand with the blinds at 600/1200. A solid player raised about 3BB in mid-position. I have AQ on the button with about 11,000 chips. At this stage, I'm contemplating all three options - raise, call or fold. I quickly rule out fold, as I've only got about 9BB left (we are down to three tables).
I put his range of hands as pairs down to about 66, and aces down to about AT. Obviously, when I write it down like that, things become very clear for AQ - I'm only ahead of two hands, in big trouble against four, and slight dog in races with the rest. However, in the heat of battle, my thinking was clouded by the fact that, given the state of the tournament, and considering the fact that I hate getting blinded away, I was looking for a reason to get all my chips in. I thought 'he's probably got AJ' and went all-in. He called and turned over TT, so it could have been a lot worse. I had no help from the board and we started counting chips to see if he had me covered.
He didn't, I covered him - by a single 100 chip. I've never been, literally, down to a chip and a chair before, especially not when that chip is only a twelfth of a big blind. However, this is where the fun really begun.
First hand, I'm all-in (blind, of course). There are two other players who go to showdown, one of them takes the sidepot with Ace-high. I then turn over my cards to reveal 32 offsuit, and the 2 has hit for me to treble up to 300. Next hand, same again, this time there are four players in the hand, and my 300 becomes 1200 when my T3 hits a ten. Third hand in a row, I'm all-in blind (this time for a full big blind), and A2 hits an ace to quadruple up to 4800.
I pass a couple of hands before finding AQ again. Someone calls my all-in and I win again, up to 11,200 from 100!
I am flying at this point, and get caught up in the rush. At 800/1600 a short stack goes all-in for 6300 on my BB. I only have 63 offsuit but decide that luck must be with me and call for another 4700. He shows 88 and my two big undercards come to zero. Here I learn a valuable lesson - never get caught up in rushes, they only muck up your thinking.
A few hands later it's folded to me on the button and I go all-in with 83 offsuit (I'd already decided to go all-in with any two cards if it was passed to me in late position). The woman on the BB called (after a slight ponder) and whatever it was she had held up. Ironically, I think that if I hadn't chucked away some chips with the 63 call, I may have had enough to make her pass. I exited in 17th.
The Monte Carlo Millions is currently under way (on day two) and I have ten pounds on Fuat Can at 110/1 on Betfair, and he's currently still in (and going well) with about 36 players left. I've probably just bokked him; if so, my allegiance turns to Granite John from the Gutshot, who beat me in the Pokerzone TV tournament (see blog posts passim).
Incidentally, when typing the title of this entry, I accidentably wrote 'Chop and a chair' - I fully intend to use this if I ever come back to cut a deal at a final table after being down to a single chip during the tournament...
Monday, November 21, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Beginner's luck
Little poker over the last week or so - bought Civilization IV last Monday so have been playing that in the evenings, then went to Paris for the weekend. Civ IV rocks, I started playing one game on Noble difficulty level to get the hang of the new features and once it became obvious I was going to win (huge technology lead and I'd wiped out the Japanese) I started another game on the next level up, Prince. This has been tougher. It's a map with lots of islands and I've been put in a part of the world with small islands which only support one city each. This has made expansion a pain. I also made an error by not noticing that when your treasury level falls close to zero, the science rate is adjusted downward so you don't go broke. Thus my science rate went from 70% to 20% and I've fallen well behind in the tech race and am currently ranked 5th out of the six civs.
Anyway, back to poker. On Monday night I played in the Blondepoker forum PL Omaha tourney on Pokerstars. 26 entries at $11 a pop. Now, I've played, at most, one PL Omaha MTT before, so had to play this by ear. I started off playing very tight, then got bored with that and started seeing some flops. My starting stack of 1500 went down to 900, then back up to about 2000 when I doubled up with AA87 double suited against AAT6 ds when I hit my flush. 4000 came by hitting a straight on the turn against a set plus flush draw.
My favourite hand of the night was dealt next. I had AA96 and raised a limper preflop. Flop was Q23 and my opponent check-called my bet. Turn was an 8 - he checked, as did I. I'm not exactly sure why I checked, as it gave up the initiative I had in the hand - I think this was an error. It also, in my opinion, gave away the fact I had AA, considering I raised preflop. River was a 7 and matey boy bet the pot. I had a little think, but was sure that this was an attempt to take the pot, and called. He had JJT8 and I was up to about 8000.
Got to the final table 3rd in chips, and made the final 2 with quite a deficit. At this stage hands were going by at quite a blur, and sometimes I won hands at showdown without having time to work out why... I drew level when I called a re-re-raise all-in on a J64 flop (two clubs) with J4Q2 and my opponent only had an Ace-high flush draw.
The next big hand was when I had KKA5 and saw a flop of AJ7. Matey check-called my bet. Turn was 9c and he again check-called. At this stage, his J7T4 was ahead with two pair. The river was 5h, giving me a higher two pair, and he checked again. I checked behind because I hadn't worked out this had helped my hand :-) This took the pot and gave me a big lead.
The tournament ended when I had another pair of Aces hold up and I won $130. It's amazing to think of all the Hold'em tournaments I've played well in and come nowhere, and then I fluke this Omaha one.
Anyway, back to poker. On Monday night I played in the Blondepoker forum PL Omaha tourney on Pokerstars. 26 entries at $11 a pop. Now, I've played, at most, one PL Omaha MTT before, so had to play this by ear. I started off playing very tight, then got bored with that and started seeing some flops. My starting stack of 1500 went down to 900, then back up to about 2000 when I doubled up with AA87 double suited against AAT6 ds when I hit my flush. 4000 came by hitting a straight on the turn against a set plus flush draw.
My favourite hand of the night was dealt next. I had AA96 and raised a limper preflop. Flop was Q23 and my opponent check-called my bet. Turn was an 8 - he checked, as did I. I'm not exactly sure why I checked, as it gave up the initiative I had in the hand - I think this was an error. It also, in my opinion, gave away the fact I had AA, considering I raised preflop. River was a 7 and matey boy bet the pot. I had a little think, but was sure that this was an attempt to take the pot, and called. He had JJT8 and I was up to about 8000.
Got to the final table 3rd in chips, and made the final 2 with quite a deficit. At this stage hands were going by at quite a blur, and sometimes I won hands at showdown without having time to work out why... I drew level when I called a re-re-raise all-in on a J64 flop (two clubs) with J4Q2 and my opponent only had an Ace-high flush draw.
The next big hand was when I had KKA5 and saw a flop of AJ7. Matey check-called my bet. Turn was 9c and he again check-called. At this stage, his J7T4 was ahead with two pair. The river was 5h, giving me a higher two pair, and he checked again. I checked behind because I hadn't worked out this had helped my hand :-) This took the pot and gave me a big lead.
The tournament ended when I had another pair of Aces hold up and I won $130. It's amazing to think of all the Hold'em tournaments I've played well in and come nowhere, and then I fluke this Omaha one.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Cardiff and card dead
It's been a couple of weeks since I filmed the Will Hill Grand Prix heat and, whilst I can't mention what happened in the game till it's broadcast, I can say what a great time I had. Being able to watch players like Tony G and Scotty Nguyen (yes, he got added to my heat after the draw) up close was fantastic, as was spending time in the bar afterwards with Jesse May, Vicky Coren, Lucy Rokach and John Shipley, among others. Can't wait to see it on the TV but, at the same time, don't really want to in case it shows I was bluffed out of pots. Ah well, it's all experience.
Stayed in the Cardiff Hilton for the heat and was surprised to see no Welsh people working in the hotel at all. French guy at the front desk, Polish barmaid, South African waiter, Filipino cleaner - all very strange.
Over the last few weeks I've had a very good time on the NL 6-max tables. Playing two at a time I'm averaging a profit of 15 BB an hour per table, so 30 BB in total. This has been mostly through managing to get out of the way of other players when they have their big hands. I did have an annoying habit of crushing a table, and then pissing my profit away in one hand when I got all-in with the worst hand. There's been less of this recently.
There have also been fewer tournaments of late. Annoyingly, I bubbled in the Crypto £15K last week. I had an absolute death of cards, but managed to double through with the various good hands I got. Losing one hand then knocked me down to a level where I had no folding equity, so had to find two decent cards to go all-in with, which never came, whereas the various shortstacks below me managed to double-up and pass me.
Analysing my results over the past few months, it seems better financially for me to play cash games, but I have more fun in tournaments. Think I'll concentrate on cash - try and build up my bankroll a bit, instead of blowing groups of £55 on the £15K.
Stayed in the Cardiff Hilton for the heat and was surprised to see no Welsh people working in the hotel at all. French guy at the front desk, Polish barmaid, South African waiter, Filipino cleaner - all very strange.
Over the last few weeks I've had a very good time on the NL 6-max tables. Playing two at a time I'm averaging a profit of 15 BB an hour per table, so 30 BB in total. This has been mostly through managing to get out of the way of other players when they have their big hands. I did have an annoying habit of crushing a table, and then pissing my profit away in one hand when I got all-in with the worst hand. There's been less of this recently.
There have also been fewer tournaments of late. Annoyingly, I bubbled in the Crypto £15K last week. I had an absolute death of cards, but managed to double through with the various good hands I got. Losing one hand then knocked me down to a level where I had no folding equity, so had to find two decent cards to go all-in with, which never came, whereas the various shortstacks below me managed to double-up and pass me.
Analysing my results over the past few months, it seems better financially for me to play cash games, but I have more fun in tournaments. Think I'll concentrate on cash - try and build up my bankroll a bit, instead of blowing groups of £55 on the £15K.
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