Monday 17 December 2007

The tiltmonster

Since my last blog have played a couple more live sessions and am up about 500ish in total. A few funky hands here and there and my first shocking beat, basically got it in on the turn with AA on a pretty safe board, he had 5 outs and got there for a 620 pot, ouch!
Blogging the beats is no fun but blogging the hands i win is much more painless to write about. Last time i wrote about the call i made with 4th pair V busted flush. The next hand involves the same player and is arguably the sickest call i have ever seen or heard about. I limp the CO with 10 7 soooted, my buddy limps button and the guy in the bb (total gimp donk) raises 5 more. He could have anything so i call as does my buddy. Flop A 6 8 and the donk bets 10,he has about 150ish back and i'm very deep stacked so decide to make a loose call and the other guy calls to. Turn is a King and we go check, check, check. River is a queen, donk checks i think about a stab but opt to check and the button bets 30. The donk thinks 20secs and folds and its on me. After 5 seconds i announce that i think he has 75 or 97 and i'm going to call with a 10. He says 97 and i proudly table 107 for a very nice 100ish pot, very very very sick indeed.
So live poker has continued to go well. Have decided to use some of my winnings to play the main event of the london poker masters at the gutshot, 500 buy-in and 50 charge. Its a 2 day event with an excellent structure so should be a lot of fun and am looking forward to it, january 5th-6th.
Finished being staked by jambon online. Have about $1800 to play with on party which is nice, tilted very badly last night and lost 2 buy-ins at $2/4 NLH in under 10 minutes. Was really pissed off when i bubbled the sunday million on stars, took a very bad beat and would have had 120,000 chips with 15% of the field left. Instead of beating up a midget or having a wank (2 very standard ways to get off tilt) i loaded up the six max on party and the rest is history. Thankfully it was mainly profit i had been grinding out all day playing 0.5/1 PLO and NLH so not to bad. Tilt is so much fun.

Monday 10 December 2007

great poker week.

Have just finished my 4th and final cash game session of the week and thankfully it was another profitable one. Its been my best poker week by far, as live play goes and i'm delighted with both my play and my luck.
Just a quick update on my third session which was a bit of a funny one. Went to the gutshot after work on friday, arriving at 4.30 am and not to my suprise there were still three games going so i jumped straight into a 1/2 game for 300 total. The game was quite active with 2 aggressive players on my left who seemed quite strong, 7 players in total. Lost 100 early with 3/4 hands that didn't quite go my way before winning a very nice pot with K8 V 77 on a 8 8 6 board, got paid on flop turn and river. Then i palyed a big pot with the player on my immediate left. Folded round to me on the button with a 5 straddle on the game, had raised this spot last time and had folded to a pot size re-raise, look down at AA, not folding this time. So i make it 16 and not to my suprise all 3 call. Flop A Q 3, 2 clubs and i bet 30 when is checked to me. First guy calls, other 2 fold and my man checks when a red 10 hits the turn i bet 60 and once again he thinks for 2 secs and calls. River was a nice fat 2 of diamonds and he checks again. I dwell for 10 secs and then bet 125 and he calls with AK, shipp it! Think he played the hand quite poor and was check guessing, was quite sick when the case ace hits but by the time the river comes he only beats a bluff, think he should try and define his hand earlier but not to sure. Got the first tube back at 6.30 when the game broke and they moved it to 1, 10 handed game, ended +300 so nice short game here and just nice to find a couple of good spots, made 1 shabby bluff but gave up before the river and 2 barrel bluffs tend to be a lot cheaper than all 3.
Was back at the gutshot at 8pm Sunday for the 50 FE, 5000 chips and 15 mins clock. Got a nice double up early with flopped flush and really tried to concentrate and play my best throughout, my tourney ended on a sick beat with 30% of field left, 35,000 chip pot 86 V 10 9 on a board of 10 9 7, very painfull 9 on the river but happy with my game and if i win that pot think i'm chip leader and very very confident at closing so think a top 3 would have been on i hope.
Wasn't to dissapointed and was soon back in cash game action sitting with the standard 300 in the 1/2 game. After about an hour was up 60 and going along very nice indeed until this hand came up. 4 limps into my bb and i pot with KK. 2 calls and a board of 2 5 6 with two clubs; i check (guy on the button is a bit of a donk who likes a bet) next guy checks and donk bets 25 ( leaving 125 back) i make it 80; first limper folds and donk shoves, don't love it but i can't fold. I table KK and he shows 87, with 1 club. Turn is a nice fat 4 and i take an ugly hit. Got my chips back 30 mins later with K2 v his 4 2 on a K 4 2 flop, unlucky for him but another nice flop for me. After this went on a nice rush for the next 2 hours, table was quite weak and had it worked out niceley, 2 total calling stations who were calling very light on the river so when i hit big and bet big they came along for the ride. Thought i had them pegged most of the time and was disgusted when i called a 50 river bet with AA on a board of 3 9 10 10 j and 1 of then flipped Q 10. His game was so obvious this was the worst play i have made in the last week; 0-2 with AA and KK; kind of call that is the difference between good palyers and average ones and was not happy 1 bit. Next hand was very sick, folded to me on CO and i bump it up with the 9 6 sooooooooooooooted. Huge granite like rock calls button and other 2 fold. Flop 2 2 5 and i bet 20, he thinks for 10 secs and raises to 60. Was pretty sure i was folding at this point but the more i thought about it the more adament i was he had 99-JJ and was looking a little un-easy, i decide to hope he hasn't noticed that i raise 15-20% of hands pre, say 'jeus have you got a 2' lol and then i make it 100 more, stacks are quite deep with about 300 back each so was also thinking if he calls i can shove the last 200 in if a ace, king or queen hit the turn; thankfully he folds JJ face up after 2 mins and i'm happy to show the 9 high, the donks look a little confused and sure enough 1 pays me off with middle pair 4 hands later for another 100. The play is a bit fancy and a little stupid but i was pretty confident it would work and i couldn't ignore my fucking instincs.
Next hand was one of the sickest i have ever played; 3 limps and i limp button with 75off. No action in the blinds and we see a flop of K 8 6 with two spades, check round to me and i bet 8. All fold round to the last limper who raises 20 more, he's quite aggressive and likes his chip tricks so i call with the up and down (wasn't sure what he had at this point). Red Q hits the turn and he bets 50 leaving 150 behind. At this point my first thought was to obviously pass, i'm not getting a good price and he's palyed it very hard representing 2 pair or a set. For some reason i call (think the plan was to shove a action card if he checked the river) and a red 7 hits the river, not the card i want and when he bets 80 i'm about to fold. Then i start thinking about a hand an hour ago when the guy checked 2 pair on the river and my stupid brain decides that he either has 66 or a busted flush, i call, he announces 'busted flush and i turn over 4th pair for a nice 250+ pot, very very sick call.
The final hand i will blog was sick for another reason. Folded to me on the CO with 42 SOOOOOOTED so i make it 7, button calls and bb raises to 24, he hasn't re-raised me for 6 hours but he had been playing very very weak post flop and i felt pretty sure it was AA or KK so i call to bust (he has 350 back) button calls as well and when we see a juicy J 4 2 board i'm in heaven and lead out for 75, button folds and not to my suprise donk insta raises to 150, i insta push, he insta calls and i say, 'i know you have aces, i can beat aces, no pain thanks dealer', he looks horrified when he flips AA and can't believe its not still the nuts, bricks on the turn and river and i win a huge pot with 42. More looks of horror from the table when i flip it but i have a good laugh after the hand with the 1 guy on the table that was a very good player who seems to find the whole situation as funny as i did, ' i knew you beat his aces but i thought at least you had a set'. Just a quick note on this guy called Ian, thought he was a standard donk when he asked me what a squeeze play was after being at the table for 20 mins, turns out that was a joke and he was a very good player indeed. He made two world class laydowns imo and think he was one of the best cash players i've ever played against (much better than me).
Ended the session +900 and ended the week +3.6K , VERY SICK FOR 1/2 FULL RING GAME. Long may it continue but i'm a realist and i know this hot streak wont last long. Its now 9.30am on monday morning and i'm gonna go put some cash in the bank and have a nice full english in the local cafe, I LOVE POKER!!

Thursday 6 December 2007

Running hotter than the sun!

Poker is going very well indeed at the moment and i'm not going to take it for granted, i'm going to celebrate the fact. Having won $3.2K on Saturday for coming 2nd in the 20K gtd i had my biggest cash game win ever (see below) on Sunday when the poker gods guided me into the empire at the same time as some rich donkeys who were more than willing to just hand me their money.
When i sat down for my next cash game on tuesday i had no idea how long do i'd play for or how much i'd win. The answer to the first question is 11 hours, the answer to the second is 1440 pounds. As before the deck was more than generous to me, the difference this time was it wasn't 4 or 5 big hands it was 30-35 smaller hands each between 20 and 100 pounds. The biggest pot i won was about 350 but most of the money came from good reads and lots and lots of well timed bluffs. The table was quite weak and i was was running all over it, the players weren't really donkeys they were just quite weak and i felt totally in the zone and able to read most of them very easily; most were also afraid to bluff and had i no problems laying down some big hands. Folded QQ twice pre flop and was shown AA and KK so very happy with those laydowns.
Sickest hand of the night was this classic; had 87 in the bb and when 6 people limp i check my option. Flop J 10 9 (2 spades) which was hot hot hot, i get the ball rolling with a bet of 10, guy next to me makes it 35, next guy calls, shortstack pushes for 60 and finally the guy pushes on the button for 180 total YIKES!!!!! I fold, first raiser folds J 9 and the next guy calls with Q 2 of spades, shortstack has 10 9 and the button has KQ; phewwwwwwwwwwwwww.
As I've already said not that many huge hands but lots of nice size pots. My favourite; 2limps and i raise to 11 from the CO with KQ. BB calls as does first limper. Flop 9 2 3, both check and i c-bet 19. BB calls and after the first limper folds he bets 25 when another 2 hits the turn. The way he had been playing i thought he was quite weak and probs just had a 9 so i raised to 80, after 3 secs he calls, wooooops. I was done with the hand at this point, don't think he wanted to believe i had the overpair and i wasn't gonna fire another shell......... until a nice K hits the river and when he checks i get paid off for a cheeky 100 pound value bet, his fat face was not happy when i turned that one over muttering the words, 'i'm so sick', long may this golden rush continue!

Monday 3 December 2007

sick cash game

Live cash games tend to be a bit of a grind, especially when your playing self-dealt 7-9 handed no limit holdem. Good cards and good bluffing situations tend to be hard to find and in general i'm happy when i look back at a live session and i can say that i got the big decisions right and ideally have a nice 50% return on my initial buy in; if i'm running bad sometimes its even just nice to break even. Last night was somewhat different to the usual grind; went to the pub after work, had a couple of pints and just i was headed home i decided to nip into the empire to see if there was a game going on. Tourney was well under way but spotted a 1/2 game going on so i jumped straight in for 2oo with 6 complete randoms.
Not long before i was playing a big pot with the 32 of hearts. 3 limps and i complete from the sb. Flop 10 8 3 with two hearts and i check. First limper bets 10 and button calls, thought about raising here but was out of position and didn't feel like these guys were folding so i flat call, as does the bb. Turn is the jack of hearts so i make my flush and bet 20, bb insta calls and the flop raiser then makes it 60 yikes!! Didn't love this situation cause i know someone could have me out flushed in a multi-way pot but there is a lot in the middle and i've never played these guys before so i push for 90ish more, bb dwells and folds 2 pair, good fold then the raiser (who later turns out to be a full time live pro) thinks and folds Q 9 (no heart), excellent lay down but i'm up and running.
Next big hand was based on this smaller hand before: Ep makes it 6, 1 call and i call from the bb with 10 9 of spades. Flop K 10 2 rainbow and i check, raiser c-bets 10 and other player calls (as do i). Turn is the 10 of hearts and i bet 15 both call; river is a total brick and i bet 25, raiser insta calls and other guy folds. As i show the 10 9 he shows KQ for top 2 and moans in danish to his hot girlfriend about what a fish i am, lol think he has a point. So my carlsberg drinking buddy is not in the best of moods for the next hand when i look down at KK in the sb, folded rounded to me and i bump it to 8 and the dane insta calls. Flop Q 10 6 and i bet 20 just hoping he has flopped a pair and is ready to play a big pot. Not to my suprise he raises to 60 and seeing he has 100 behind, i think for about 10 secs then set him in. Looking like he might explode, the guy once again reverts to his native tongue before calling it off with A10! My hand holds and i'm now sitting on a big fat 200 profit.
As my danish friend exits 2 rather young looking indian boys sit down for 100 each and it becomes obvious very early that they have very little idea what they are doing. Love this hand: 5 limps to my bb and i check Q5 of diamonds. Flop A 6 7 with two diamonds, 2nd limper bets 9, young indian kid calls on the button and i calls as well. Turn is a black 3 making me a straight draw but still not 2 happy when the guy bets 30, when the kid calls i was sure i was getting the right price and am loving it when the golden 2 of diamonds hits the river. I make a sneaky check and the raiser blocker bets 15 (the kid calls again) and i raise 50 more, first guy dwells then folds his ace and the donkey calls with JJ!!!!!! The table looks shocked as he turns it over and says the following 'was sure you were bluffing again', the hand before i had shown a 6 pound bluff! ship it!
For the next 3 hours i ran hot, hot hot! Twice i had K 9 and the flop came K99, got paid 100 both times. Won another 130 with 10 3 when it came 10 3 3 and another guy had A3, LOL! It was simply ridiculous i was running good and playing good. Was about to stand up and leave at 2am when the game was 4 handed, que a young chinese couple entering the cardroom and once again struggling to get to grips with the game, 2nd hand of 6 handed play and i find 33 on the CO. Two of us limp in, sb completes and bb checks. Flop is 9 8 3 with two hearts and the girl bets 10, bb calls, as does the limper. Lot of draws out there so i make it 50. The girl calls and the other 2 fold. Turn is a black queen which is quite safe but she bets 50 and the j 10 got there so seeing as she has 250 behind and i'm a bit of a pussy i flat call and see the river cheap, 8 pairs the board and i have a rather pretty looking full house, she bets 100, i raise 150 more and after 10secs she calls with AQ. That's right 50 more on the flop with ace high! TY VERY MUCH!
After a bottle of champagne (bought by my new favourite couple) the game breaks after some more fun hands and i'm up 1350 quid, sick sick, sick! Think i might be back at the empire soon!