Pokerpops ponders poker

[pokerpops]

The local G has a Sunday Deepstack tournament, starts at 4pm and has a 40,000 SS. Yep, 40,000. If you register before 3.50 you get an extra 10%. That"s 4,000 chips, with blinds starting at 25/50 and four 30 minute levels, which would probably make a decent enough tournament in itself.
Anyway, they also have Sky so I decided to combine a game of poker with watching MUFC at Arsenal. Neither venture ended well.
Obviously the £25+£5 cost deters very few and the opening levels see more limping than you"d see in a room full of people with sprained ankles.
It"s fun though, the majority of players are pleasant and as long as you accept that there probably isn"t a pre flop raise to reduce 7limpers to one or maybe two callers.
I had a fairly card dead afternoon and although I won a few pots they were generally small and having value cut myself betting three streets with AQ on A4Qxx to be shown a set of fours by the lovely white haired Betty. Betty got me again a little later when she backed into a straight having called me all the way with second pair. She didn"t even realise what she had...
My exit came when I shipped 13BB wth KQ from the big blind over two limpers and the small having completed. Called by sixes which held. Not unhappy with his call because sixes are some way behind my range for the shove. (66+, KQs+, A10o+ feels about right?) any views appreciated.
That"s seven live tournaments in a row where I haven"t troubled the scorer, but I felt good about my game and my reads in general.

Online I now have
7 X $5.50
2 X $22
and somehow the roll is now up to $18 which I think is due to Party dealing with a mid-tournament crash by sharing out the notional $11 prize pool as cash.

[Fatcatstu]

Think i would be pushing a bit wider than that to be honest, pretty much any pair, most suited connectors and alot of Ax"s.

Would just be expecting to see so many limp folds here.

[pokerpops]

Think i would be pushing a bit wider than that to be honest, pretty much any pair, most suited connectors and alot of Ax"s.

Would just be expecting to see so many limp folds here.

Maybe online...

The population in this game doesn"t like folding when they already have chips in the pot. We"re still some way off the money at this stage so I was leaning toward the stronger range.

[pokerpops]

Been a bit quiet on the poker front. Played very few of the centrolls with only small success, used a $5.50 on a 3 X $109 satellite. With 5 left and 3 seats plus $85 for fourth I ran AK(SB) into chip leader"s A5(BB)
Not at all sure what they were thinking when they called. If I hold he is reduced to shortest stack.
Oh well, never mind, onward we go.

Can"t play this weekend so this week"s traditional DTD generosity has to be passed by.
With 100 seat guarantees and the 32 seat flip centrolls it"s a shame to be missing out.
Oh well, never mind, onward we go.

[pokerpops]

So...

Something to report finally.

Haven"t played much poker of any description over the past weeks. The DTD/Party cent rolls have become even more of a lottery with c80 runners competing for the one seat now. Seems a waste of time so unless I find myself with a lot of that I won"t be bothering. I have a few $5.50 and two $22 tickets we"ll see how they go.
I did play the APAT satellite two Thursday"s ago and managed to do a win without really ever being in trouble. Everything just fell into place for me throughout.

Which brings me to the weekend just gone and a trip to Aspers ink Newcastle for the UK Championship.

This was a fabulous event. Ignoring the late start everything was well organised and the dealers were outstandingly good. On a par with DTD IMHO. Valets were brilliant too - and appropriately dressed (take note Mr Yong, valets don"t have to flash legs and cleavage to keep customers happy. They just need to be around, take orders and bring the drinks/food to the table in a reasonable time)

We started a little late, which was quite good for me since I had only arrived with 15mins to spare due to my satnav and Newcastle"s one way system not fully understanding each other...

A few highlights
NB some bet sizes may not be 100% accurate, my memory isn"t what it was.

First hand, the very first hand, I get comfy in my seat, sort my stack and find two black aces. Visions of a very early exit cross my mind.
I"m seat 4 and the button is seat 9 I think. Anyway, seat 3 makes it 150, I pause and make it 425, seat 7 makes it 1200...
Oh my, what have got into here?
Folds back to me and I contemplate flatting for deception but decide that a raise is in order (obviously never folding). I make 3400 and seat 7 dwells up and folds KK face up.
I announce that "I hate jacks" but I don"t think anyone was convinced.
Had a great run of cards from there in. Raised 44 and made a house on the turn which I got paid for.
Had AA V KK BvB all in pre ( SB 4bet jammed about 15k at 100/200)
Made a rivered nut flush vs a big pair where I don"t think I should still have been in the hand by the river, but, hey ho, I won the pot

Got to the dinner break as chip leader with 105k and then had a steady decline in stack till close of play ending with 58k.

Day 2 to follow

[Fatcatstu]

Day 2 to follow

Quickly then.

[pokerpops]

Patience dear boy, patience.

You wouldn"t want me to rush it would you?

[pokerpops]

Day two
The journey...
I set off at around 1030, giving myself plenty of time to get to Aspers by noon. Arrived in Newcastle a little after 1100 and was, according to my satnav, 1000yds from the carpark by 1110. At 1130 I was closer, 100yds closer, and not moving. Geordies love to shop, especially on a bumper bargain weekend.
I managed to get out of the gridlock and somehow found my way to Stowell Street, maybe 100yds from the side entrance to Aspers but once again I was stationary. By now it was 1153 and had it not been for the APAT Updaters Valet Parking Service I would have had no chance of taking my seat on time. Lucy came to the rescue and I was in time to open my bag and play some poker.

Day 2 started fairly slowly, I folded a lot of hands, including giving up my blinds. Eventually as the table settled down I found a few spots where I could open and pick up some uncontested pots, and a few where the board allowed me to win the pot on flop or turn. I took the chip lead for a while at one stage following a flurry of hands that were actually good enough to win at showdown.
AQ beat 33 with a Barry Greenstein Ace on the River to reduce us to 18 and two tables.

I had opened KJ utg+1 and bet every street from a K high flop with the guy two to my right check calling each time with, I believe, a smaller kicker. As I gathered in the chips from that pot I had to dig out my new hole cards
As an aside, the number of chips in any single pot was ridiculous. People were posting their blinds and antes in 100 chips, a practice that I would outlaw. However...
I dug my cards from under the weight of chips and found KK utg, obviously a raise was in order.
By the time it got back to me I was calling an all in and up against 66, I didn"t much like the 6 on the flop but the K on the turn got me out of trouble.

Things slowed again for a while but I maintained my stack pretty well with the usual mix of walks and steals and got to the final table with 250ish which was pretty much average.

Final Table
Hand 1 QJo utg, raise and take
Hand 2 QQ in BB, MP made a rather unorthodox raise to 12 X and called my shove with AQdd. A on the flop, that"s it then, eliminated on the first occasion throughout the tournament when I was all in and at risk. Such is poker.

I did a stint on the FT commentary with Lucy and enjoyed it. Would be good if we could do it a little further from the action to make it feasible to comment on the hands a bit more, but it was fun nonetheless.

Thursday sees the Stockton Massive gathering for a pre-Christmas game which will no doubt involve bramble brandy and shots, and an early exit for me. Other than that and the APAT onLine on Sunday my poker year is done.

Have a great Christmas all.

[Des]

Great to see you in Newcastle David and thanks for your stint on the commentary.  Enjoyed the blogs too!

[pokerpops]

It"s been a while...

Since my last post I"ve played the DTD/Party thing in Newcastle and a few of the new, improved Sunday game (4pm start, 25k, sensible structure to finish before 1am).

I have failed miserably in winning DTD seats, I seem fine converting $5.50 into $22 but couldn"t even get a seat in the 50gtd jobs. So, I deposited £70 and then discovered that wasn"t enough to get me $109, tricky this thing of living in a country which is proud of it"s own currency but being forced to buy into poker tournaments in foreign currency. I understand this when the tournament is pnline and has an international constituency, but the Grand Prix Poker Tour is all about the live games in "iconic" football grounds.
I played my Day One at Aspers and busted around the end of level 15 of 18. JJ

Sunday games have been kinder to me and in recent weeks I"ve had an outright win, a 3-way deal, a bubble payment and a 3rd place finish for a total of a touch over £900. The games have been fun too which adds to the pleasure.

I"m not likely to play the Leeds leg, no Casino Day Ones (G and Genting have no incentive to promote an opposition tour) and i just can"t get excited about playing at Elland Road.

I"m quite excited about DTD raising the prospect of another Caribbean Poker Party, as I understood their position in 2012 the issue with my second final table was the fact that I couldn"t transfer the CPP package, nor take a cash alternative. We"ll wait and see.

I"m obviously biased, but I do think the updates from WCOAP are good this year. Looking forward to keeping in touch with events there as the week goes on. Wish I could be there, but family first makes it difficult again this year.

I have managed to be in a position to squeeze in a shot at the North East version of the Grosvenor Easter Beast. Three local G"s, five day ones, £110 entry, £20k guarantee. I"m heading to Newcastle on Wednesday and aiming to return on Monday.

Enough rambling, hope to be back soon.

Run good, play well, win flips.

[Fatcatstu]

About time you made another appearance!!

What is this sunday game you speak of?

Finally, are you playing on Thursday?

Miss you Pops x

[pokerpops]

About time you made another appearance!!

What is this sunday game you speak of?

Finally, are you playing on Thursday?

Miss you Pops x

I know

G, 4pm start, 25,000 stack, £25+£6

No, it"s my birthday.

Miss you too X

[pokerpops]

So, Newcastle Grosvenor for the Easter Beast. £110 buy in, 5 day ones with 2 re-entries allowed each day. £20k guarantee and with over 70 last night it will smash that.
Not that I will have any interest in it.

suffice to say that I called an all in on the turn in the belief that my opponent was drawing, I was right, he had a pair, a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw.
I dodged the spades and the ten but not the J which gave him two pair to beat my QQ.

[Fatcatstu]

I may have a poke at that game, seems very reasonable!

[pokerpops]

The Nobbers home game reconvened last Thursday. Seven of us made it and much fun ensued.
I bust first and took up dealing duties, it"s been a while but I was definitely faster than the newly trained pair who were following me from table to table at G on Sunday. I understand that they have to learn, and I offered them both encouragement and support, but with two tables left and blind levels of 20mins it became very frustrating.
I hope they both stick it out and improve.

Thursday"s game ended in a chop after I dealt 22 and JJ to the HU players. Stu took the x22xx board very well considering:)

A very late decision to play at G on Sunday paid off with a 3way chop.
My hand of the night came midway through the game

My Button and there are two limpers at 600/1200/100
I find   and decide to squeeze (it rarely gets anyone to fold at this stage, but it felt like a fun thing to do)
Both blinds fold and UTG announces AllIn.... for a total of 4500!
The mid position lumper now tanks for a while and tbh I actually sort of hoped he"d shove so I could fold...but he folds leaving me to call 1400 to be HU for a pot of about 12800.

I say, "oops, I have to call, but I have six high"
"You"re ahead" says he "I have 45"

Best hand won too