Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Poker Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: George2Loose on October 21, 2009, 00:01:08 AM
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Please feel free to ask any questions etc etc:
9 of us decided to take the jaunt up from Leicester to take part in the IPO including my close friends Neil Blatchly (Blatch) and Kev Smith (AutobetKev). We arrive Thursday evening and have an interesting start of the trip flipping for Euro"s in the airport departure lounge. Somehow I end up about 50 Euro up flipping against Blatch. MBN. We were joined by blondeites Evil pie, Boshi and Cos. The latter ended up on the 300 euro down in flips. gg Cos.
We have a quiet night out in town. A meal and a few drinks and a boogie at a club before getting back to our hotel and respective rooms. I"m sharing with Kev and instantly regret this decision when he"s snoring all night. I can"t sleep. FML FML FML.
I boot up the lap top and fire up tilt and stars to play a 45 man sit and go. F that- Tilt has a 110$ super turbo MTT starting in 4 mins. 6 max. 300 starting chips. 5 min clock. Standard tilt structure= heaven!!! I register thinking I"ll last around 6 mins and end up taking it down (well chopping it heads up). For those of you who know me from Fb and here, I have been fairly vocal (a whinging *******) about how bad I"ve been running probably from the start of this year to the end of August. It"s been the sickest run of my short poker career and has really left feeling low, lacking confidence and mardy as **** (look up mardy in a Leicester dictionary as well as cob) Fast forward 2 months and I can"t lose. I"m winning every flip- and my confidence is back. I go to bed at 7.30am- up in 3 hours for the IPO. Great!!!
For some reason Blatch wanted to get to the venue early even tho I told him a gazillion times it would not get started at the 12 o clock start time. This is not a slight on the organisers. I"m sure even a place like DTD would struggle to get 720 players seated in two different rooms with staggered chips counts to start on time. So we hang around for an age and finally get started at about half 12. I"m wasn"t really sure what to expect from the field having only played in Ireland twice before- both significantly higher buys in- the Irish EPT and the Irish Open (shameless brag- no Irish flag tho )
The table was very soft- most playing fairly bad/tight. There were a couple of decent players that you are always able to identify. My plan was to be very selectivley aggressive, try and keep pots small and open pots with a wide range. I played plenty of pots and quickly established a loose image (surprise surprise).
So onto some actual hands......
OK so first hand of any significance wasn"t huge but a defining one because I stuck to my read. When running bad, you tend to think everyone is holding the nuts. You look at a 5d 6d 7d flop and think your opponent must have 8d 9d when you"re holding Ad Kd
Blinds were 25/50 and we"re playing 10 handed. Stacks are between 8-10k and I"m in the hijack. Two limpers immediately before me and I look down at 78os. I limp behind and it folds to the small blind who decides to try and isolate pot build with a raise to 225. Everyone calls so I come along with position and more importantly "value bud"
The flop comes down 10, 7, 3 rainbow. There"s 5 players in the pot, sb, bb and us limpers so there"s 1125 in the pot. Pre flop raiser leads for 550. Folds to me and I flat with middle pair. Turn brings a 5 and he now bets 850. I"m fairly sure I"m winning but there"s not too much margin for error. I don"t wanna lose a decent proportion of my stack at this stage but he doesn"t look comfortable so I call once more. Blank on the river and it goes check check. Matey has AQss and I scoop not without a comment or two from said matey. I advise him not to try and bluff a station- all friendly banter.
I continue to stay involved- opening with frequency. Mixing up my play= sometimes limping behind, sometimes raising multiple limpers. Everyone"s quite passive pre. Then comes my first significant double up....
Matey opens for 350 utg at 50/100 and it folds to me in the sb. I have Td 9d. Heaven. I flat, big blind calls and we see a Th 9h 7s flop. He leads for 550 and I repop to 1400. Matey decides to 4 bet to 7700 (cos I obv have a draw) and when I shove he tanks for his last 2k or so and eventually decides QQ is too big to pass. I hold and am up to 22k at 50/100
Ok so I"ve doubled and start to spew splash around in pots as you do when you have chips. No one at the table is causing me concern and I get my stack up to 25k without too much trouble. For the next couple of levels it yoyos between 25-30k.
My table sadly breaks and I get to another table which I quickly realise is even more nittier then the last one. I"m playing my fair share of pots and two significant pots against the same player spring to mind.
The first he raises the cut off to 1600 at 300/600/50 and I flat with Tc 7c
The flop is Kd 8s 9s and he checks to me. I decide to bet with outs here so make it 1850 to play. He tank/calls.
The turn is a Jd. Bink. He checks again and go ahead and bet my straight for value. I make it 4900 to play and he calls quite quickly. The river is a blank and he checks again. I"m sure he has some sort of pair. Maybe even the King. I also feel like his quick call on the turn was out of stubborness and I"m pretty sure I can extract max value from him so I bet near full pot and he snap calls me. He flips QQ (maybe he thought he was heroing) and I prove once more then suited connectors pwn QQ. I stack the guy later when he raises with K9, I peel with Ts 9s and I snap his over shove on the KQJ board.
I"m sailing on 60k and really starting to enjoy the tourney. I have no major setbacks and continue to play hands confidently and soon find myself on around 80k. I usually have roller coaster rides in tourney but this has been plain sailing. I get moved twice in quick succession and then get moved to a table with some huge stacks including the chip leader of the tourney at the time (I"d guess) who"s sat on around 200k. And so the roller coaster began.....
OK so I take a seat at table deepstack with about 90k. I am on top of the world and start raising pots straight away. In hindsight I should have established an image and watched how people were playing cos there table was very spewy (more so than me) and people were not going to be "pushed around"
I slide down to about 80k when the following hand occurs. Blinds are 800/1600 and utg opens for 6k (spewwww) out of a stack of around 25k. I look down at 99 and peel from the hijack. Now I think it"s better to re raise to iso however I made a mistake in counting his stack. The blue 500 chips were very similar to the navy blue 5k chips. Matey had a ton of the 500 chips which I mistook for 5k chips (some of them).
Sb looks down and insta shoves for 46k. Hello Mr AK. UTG ponders for a couple of seconds and puts his 25k stack in. Now what to do??? I think online and without reads this is a clear fold but I"m sat there pretty sure they both have AK. I know Mr 36k has AK without a doubt so I only have to beat him to about breakeven on the hand! So what do I do? I go against my instinct and fold. Both flip up AK and the 10 high board doesn"t help things. I"m pretty annoyed and this is a part of my game that has got so much better in the last 12 months but suddenly I start to tilt.... Pretty stupid really. I mean I still have a more than healthy stack but keep thinking about being on 150k. I can"t let it go. I should have those chips. I know. I"m going to get them. I"ll re raise loads and win them back.
So starts the inevitable spew. It"s so stupid. I know I"m gonna spew yet I can"t do anything about it. I"m hitting self destruct. I should step away and take a break. The blinds and antes will be must cheaper then what I"m about to do.
I raise with 22 and call an all in. My Opponent has 10 10 and another 10 on the flop seals my fate. I"m now on 50k. But worst is yet to come. The button- a cocky Irishman (shock horror) who was an abso spew bot raises the button to 6700 at 1k/2k. I look down at J4 and three bet to 16500. Great move if I have it but against this guy truly ridic. He wouldn"t fold QJ in this spot and quickly calls (with 25k behind. WP sir)
The flop comes down AJ2. I tank for 20 seconds and check. My opponent checks behind. I then lead for 17k and he insta chips when another ace hits the turn. It"s 7k for me to call and I fold. The worst thing happens and the tilt starts to wear off. I feel like abs ****. Why didn"t I just take a frickin break?!? Why did I fold the 99??? kihafihpowshfojsdo
So I regroup and start to grind. I eventually reship my 27k stack with 77 and manage to hold after a guy tank calls with A8. I win a race! Hoozah! Back up to 60k. Blinds are now 1500/3000 and a 35k stack opens for 9k and somehow folds when I reship with tens. A few hands later and I"m suddenly back to 90k. I"m now more chatty and in love with poker again. Go figure. I witness one huge ridic pot when two oppenets gets the 100k stacks in pre with AJ and AK (Aj opened to 8k, AK reshipped for 200k, AJ tank/calls)
Mr AK opens the button to 10k and I call with 44 in the small blind. The flop is a sexy A46. I check. He c-bets for 10k, I make it 24 and he insta ships the lot. I snap/high five/fish pump/hand in the air call and his AJ loses. I"m on 180k. Weeeeeeeeeee. Table breaks and off I go to Table "Chufty" FML............
So where were we? K. I"m moved to another table abs buzzing once again. I move once more to- guess what? A table full of nits! Although there"s one gent sitting on an impressive stack, Sunderland shirt wrapped around is shoulders, cap dothed. Who is it? It"s only Richard mfkin Ashby. FML he"s two to my left too!!!!
Now I don"t know if you know this. It"s one of the best kept secrets in poker but wtf.... I"ll let the cat out of the bag. 99.9% of poker players think they"re far better than they actually are. And when they sit down with some truly great players rather than readjust their game and adapt to new surroundings, they think "huh- it"s Richard Ashby. He"s only human. I"m gonna cold 5 bet him with 10 4 off suit. He"s ****!" Not me tho! I respect players who are the top of their game and just watching Richard play was educational.
So anyway, I"m in the hijack with 10, 4 off suit and make it 7600 at blinds 1500/3000. As soon as Chufty reaches for chips I decide that I may have to readjust my late psitin raising range from any 2 to any 2 that add up to 16 or above. Chufy doesn"t 3 bet however, he does smething far more scary. He peels. And he was doing this against me a lot! Not only that, he was peeling most flops against me too. I decide that rather than try and play OOP against the best player prbably left in the field (James Dempsey ftw obv. PS: need staking for the GUKPT grand finak, k thx) I"ll start opening tighter and re raising the weaker players lighter. This plan works as Chufty obv readjusts to my readjustment and starts folding. Basically, he knows that I know that he"s calling me a lot so he als knows that I will tighten up therefore his peeling range will tighten cos he knows I"ll be winning on a lot of flops. What he doesn"t know is that I know he knows that I"m raising ltighter therefore I re-readjust my opening range and snigger a little when I open 92 in late position in everyone folds. ! Take that Chufty!
One significant pot I play against Chufty. He limps utg. I make in the sb and the bb checks. I have J10 and the flop comes Q93. I decide to lead for 6600 and Chufty calls. No need to wait as the turn comes an 8. I decide to lead right ut again for 12800 and Chufty calls. The on the river puts a flush and a four card straight out there. What a great card to bet! My range is so polarised if I lead he"s bound to pay me off light! How much to bet? Hmmmmm- wait a min. This is Chufty. He could have back doored hearts. I should check call here. Keep the pot small. I mean he can break me. He"s a great player. CHECK! Chufty Checks. Yu fkin idiot George!!! WTF are you doing??? I take down the pot but am not pleased with my ***** poker. There"ll be no more of that later.
I nick a few small pots of the nits and when 4 hands left are announced me and Chufty collude obv as the big stacks and take 2 a piece. I finish the day as Chip daddy, 273k and head back to the hotel with the boys. 3 of us have made it unfortunately Blatch fell early after Simon trumper out played him in back t back pots and Kev got unlucky when he open shipped 40k at 400/800 and got called by A10. We chill out the hotel bar for a bit and a few laughs are had..... I mention the Irish flag I"m about to ship and go to bed saying I"m going t play the 5am and take it down back to back. That sure happened! I fall asleep about 3am dreaming of the final table.....
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I"m gonna cold 5 bet him with 10 4 off suit. He"s ****!" Not me tho! I respect players who are the top of their game and just watching Richard play was educational.
So anyway, I"m in the hijack with 10, 4 off suit and......
looooooooools, just lols on soo many different levels.
George, your my hero
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top TR, looking forward to day 2
LOL at "You should know better than to bluff a station"
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I awake at around 12.30 thinking it"s 6.30am. Blackout curtains FTW. Me and Kev decide to walk into the nearest shopping centre and get some food and meet up with some of the lads who are already up and fed and watching the Chelsea game in town. WTF? I don"t think anyone can call themselves a bona fide poker player when on a day off they wake up in the morning (unless they"ve been up all night)
Me and Kev walk to the local Mcdonalds- laughing and joking the whole way. Kev is going thru a really tough poker period much like I was 3 months ago and is bemoaning his luck. I"m sympathetic because I know what he"s going thru- we never seem to run good at the same time. Mcdonalds is nice but at 9 Euro a meal is effing expensive like everything on this holiday! After Blatch and a couple of other lads get a cab to town from the hotel, we decide to grim them and go back to the hotel to play online and watch Soccer Saturday.
Johnny Chapman joins us in the bar and he sweats me playing a cap Omaha session where he teaches me a pointer or two. I run like **** and lose 800$. **** online cash. In fact, **** cash poker altogether. I just play like a spew bot. I only seem to be able to grind in tourneys and I don"t do that too often!
We had a massive night planned Saturday but due to me being Chip Daddy I wanted a quiet night relaxing- maybe play the side event or some cash or just a night at the hotel. A few of the lads were happy to do this so me and Kev head to the venue to meet up with the other boys. We reg for the side event which is a 50+1 rebuy or add on tourney. Apparantly a shoot but I"m just up for a laugh nothing that requires too much thought.
I wonder to the cash tables and see Stu Mfkin Hopkin pwning all at the cash as usual. I wonder over to Blatch- he"s already reg"d for the comp. We both decide to short stack an omaha game which Cos is playing and are soon joined by flushy. Blatch does his ****** but obv wins it all back. I;m 300 euro in the whole and Flushy who joins us a little later is winning the lot. They"re both playing abs junk multi way but are obv golden by the river. MBSFN. One com moment is when Flushy calls a 4 bet with 9762 no suits and gets there on the river when he turns a wrap. His Irish opponent scoffs "How can you call 67 Euro with that?" Flushy replies "You only made it 67 Euro- how can I call anymore? I call 250 with this hand" WP Sir.
The side event is a laugh- lot of banter on my table and I"m really enjoying myself. Word of warning- if you play a comp with Blatch and Kev- NEVER walk up to them and let them know you"re out. Dan made this mistake and the following occured when he approached Neil"s table:
Dan to Neil: "I"m out. I had AK on an A high board....."
Neil shouts over to me "George. George. Dan"s out!"
Me to Neil " Dan"s out!?!" To my table "Guy"s- Dan;s out"
Kev chimes in "Is Dan out?!? Darren- Dan"s out!!"
This continues for a good 5 minutes but Dan takes it quite well. Needless to say when Kev busted next we only noticed by the empty seat.
I lose a flip in the comp (wtf?!) and then shove AQ into AK. Blatch is last man standing but not for long. He joins me and we decide to sit at the same cash game for a laugh.....
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Most enjoyable report ... I await more ... patiently ...
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Most enjoyable report ... I await more ... patiently ...
Good thing. We left Dublin on Monday and he"s not even finished Saturday night"s report yet, FFS! :D
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Now I don"t know if you know this. It"s one of the best kept secrets in poker but wtf.... I"ll let the cat out of the bag. 99.9% of poker players think they"re far better than they actually are. And when they sit down with some truly great players rather than readjust their game and adapt to new surroundings, they think "huh- it"s Richard Ashby. He"s only human. I"m gonna cold 5 bet him with 10 4 off suit. He"s ****!" Not me tho! I respect players who are the top of their game and just watching Richard play was educational.
That is why this man is my hero, if for nothing else that is the greatest piece of advice ever
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Quality report - I know a few ppl in the Belfast team had backed u e/w at 400"s. Next time - great performance tho - looking 4ward to the next installment.
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.....I run like **** and lose 800$. **** online cash. In fact, **** cash poker altogether. I just play like a spew bot. I only seem to be able to grind in tourneys and I don"t do that too often!
I wonder to the cash tables and ......
that took 4 sentences to get back into cash!! lol.. :D
super report...cant wait for more.
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Me and Blatch decide we"re gonna try and sit deep at a 2/5 game but can"t get any seats. We"re about to get some food when we notice two spare seats at 1 1/2 game so sit down with 500 Euro each.
A couple of Leicester lads, Danny and Steve are already sat about 200 Euro each having invested 100 and the banter begins. There"s an Irish guy who thinks raising every pot is the norm and Blatch soon schools him and sends him to the rail. Danny decides to flip for burgers with me and Blatch (lol) and be and Blatch enjoy our free burgers while Danny fumes that his isn"t worth the 25 Euro he"s paid. It"s a fairly standard cash game with nits and donks alike. No one really to fear. The empty seat is filled by a guy in his mid twenties wearing a hoodie and the fun begins....
Now anyone who knows me knows how friendly I am. Anyone who knows Neil will know he is the same- most of the time (when he"s not pissing people off right, left and centre). We"ll have banter with anyone and like to have a laugh and generally mess about when not playing for serious dime. This game is all very friendly so when someone new sits down we"ll generally welcome them.
So Mr Hoodie sits down and first hand straddles under the gun to 5 Euro. Standard stuff so far. Danny limps the button and there"s 4 in the hand (me and Blatch have folded). Dealer asks Cock Breath (hoodie) whether he wants to raise from the straddle. Hoddie nots and makes it 6 Euro more. Interesting. Obv no one is folding. And it"s 4 way to the flop which comes 4310. Everyone checks to Danny who fires 18 Euro. Now Dick features (hoodie) mouths "I know you have none of that" and calls. Everyone else folds. The turn card comes down (can"t remember what the turn or river where) and **** for brains (hoodie) now says something like "Don"t try to buy it... I know you have nothing"
Now don"t get me wrong, I"m not slagging off **** Face (hoodie) for what he"s doing at the moment. Speech play is fine. You"ll find out later why we, and when I say we I mean the whole table, took a dislike to him. Back to the hand- anyone experienced at hold em or poker for that matter knows Twat head (hoodie) is looking for a free card. Danny obliges and when they both check the river, Bog breath (hoodie) shows A5 for the winner. While the dealer shuffles I turn to Danny and jokingly say "You let him speech you Dan, I thought you were better than that...."
Before Dan can reply- Hoodie decides to pipe up "5 Euro"s for lessons mate. I"ll speech everyone one of ya. I"m the best player here. You"ll see why...." I"m sat there thinking, you sure are good raising 6 euro more out of position with A5. As usual, I decide not to get into ego wars and just nod along.
Hoodie steps away from the table and Neil, who hates rude people and bad manners decides to put a 25 Euro bounty on whoever felts hoodie. We"re all laughing and joking and when he returns, Hoodie continues to be as obnoxious as possible and continues to play hold em as awfully as I"ve ever seen......
New dealer joins the table and it"s quite apparant he"s been sampling the nightlife as he looks knackered. He makes a couple of mistakes. I"ve straddled to 4 and he deals me and the small blind and big blind 3 cards- we declare a misdeal but before anyone can look or toss their cards in the big blind says "Let"s play a hand of omaha" Everyone agree? Everyone does- I don"t know if anyone else has looked but I haven"t. Hoodie pipes up of course "Whoooo I"m awesome at omaha. It"s my game. I"m renound for it" Somehow I don"t believe him. I have no idea why I have agreed to this hand of omaha- maybe because I"m a degen gambler but I"ve been running bad allllll week. 4 limpers on my straddle and I look down at Ad 3h Ah Kh. I pot to 45 and Mr Omaha Hoodie calls. Everyone else folds. The pot is around 110 Euro and Mr Omaha is playing about 200 behind.
The flop comes down Ks 8h 5h Sweeeet. Hoodie pots it I set him all in. He has 88 rag rag (WP) and obv holds. I ALWAYS double up the tossers. He then talks about how great he is at Omaha (sure is tough when u flop a set) and I"m cursing that I can"t bink against him. He continues to be obnoxious and play so ridic awful that when he bets KJ on a J1074 (3 diamond board) he tanks after a raise and a re raise (Lady re raised all in, I re raise to ISO) thinking one pair might be good. It sure is as I have the Q high flush and she loses with the J high flush. The mocking begins.
Hoodie then calls a bet on a Ad Jd 9d 5d 4c against Danny Ball. Danny sits still and hoodie shouts up "I called your bet so you have to show!" Dan turns over the 7c followed ever so slowly by the Kd weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. First slowroll to Danny Ball!!!! Hoodie goes red as we all laugh.... Hoodie just has no clue of how to play. On a Ks Qh Js 9s 7h board he bets river after I bet flop with 109. Matey who also called my bet overcalls after tanking. I"m not sure whether hoodie has flush or not but while matey was tanking I"d decided if he calls I"m probably folding. Hoodie declares "ONE PAIR" LOL. One pair on that board. I quickly call and take the pot. Matey is annoyed when I say I was folding and I apogise to matey. Hoodie says "Why you apologising for?!?! Poker is DOG EAT DOG" OMG- what a Cock.
Neil stacks matey when he can"t fold AQ to Neil"s 3 bet with AK and he reloads. He then tries to bluff Dan when on a Ks Jd Ts 5s 4d board declaring ONE PAIR (does this guy ever have more than one pair?!?) and Danny again flips AQ one card at a time. Finally Matey does 1k when Dan flops a house with J8 on a J88 board and matey has case 8. MBSFN. At least my money finds a good home in Leicester.
The game starts to calm down and everyone starts to relax again. Then two blondites in the form of Flushy and Cos wonder over......
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epic stuff
As usual, I decide not to get into ego wars and just nod along.
class
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great read, bu how on earth do you remember the detail of a whole day"s worth of hands, even down to suits.... paticularly hands you aren"t involved in yourself!?
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A most entertaining read. Keep it coming.
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A most entertaining read. Keep it coming.
this
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great read, bu how on earth do you remember the detail of a whole day"s worth of hands, even down to suits.... paticularly hands you aren"t involved in yourself!?
Is that not standard?
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Great report fella!!! 8)
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great read, bu how on earth do you remember the detail of a whole day"s worth of hands, even down to suits.... paticularly hands you aren"t involved in yourself!?
I have superb recall. I can remember hands from 4 years ago that I wasn"t involved, down to flop, turn and river. It obv helps me greatly when playing hands with opponents on the tour... Here comes the next part
The game was enjoyable so far but Cos and Flushy were about to take it to another level. Flushy sat to the left of Blatch with 100 Euro. Yes, our hero Flushy was about to give the table a course in how to short stack a cash game. Cos sat to his left with about 600 Euro and the fun was about to begin...
I was still sat with about 400 Euro from my 500 buy in but I really wasn't in the mood to play properly. As in the tournament I knew I was about to spew but was ok with it. Funny how losing 500 odd quid can be therapeutic. I think I could make so much more money from live cash games if only I could reign in my patience. I never seem to visit the cash desk much after a cash session. Usually the night goes something like this- win some, lose some, win it back. Get really deep stacked and rather than thinking "Wow I've made 800 quid- time to go!" I start to think "Wow I have 500 big blinds, now I can really play!" and bluff like 300 off. Obviously once you've lost 300 you can't walk away! So I end up doing the lot. WP George..
Anyway back to the game. Uber short stack with about 50 Euro makes it 8 Euro UTG and gets three callers, I look down at 32 suited on the button and obviously have to make it 40 Euro to play. Both the uber shorty and another shorty call and I'm really not sure why I've made this play against two stacks with very little Fold Equity. The Flop comes down 632. Oh right. That's why I made it 40. They both check and I bet 18 Euro. Shorty ships his stack for an under raise and matey behind calls. I call and the turn comes a 2. MBSFN to be George Bedi. Matey now shoves for about 50 Euro and I call. Cos correctly predicts I have a house but incorrectly suggests 66s. WTF Cos? How much credit do you wanna give me??? The river is a sweat as it comes a 6 but both muck and I scoop. BOOM!
A few hands later UTG limps and I limp behind with Q3 green. Obv this is a spewy ridic play but I don't really care. It's 2 Euro. Blatch makes up in the small blind and Flushy makes it 12 total from the big blind to go out of a stack of about 90. Now obv Flushy has a huge hand but tbh I just want to break him. I set him all in and I'm hoping Blatch will call so we can check it down. Blatch disappoints me and folds and after a flop turn and river my Q high doesn't crack Aces. How does Flushy short stack and find aces in like 20 hands. I'm starting to wonder who runs better- Blatch or Flushy..
The game continues at pace- Blatch, Cos and Flushy are playing props on flop texture and everyone's having a good time. Johnny Chapman who's a degen and totally broke approaches Blatch with 1 Euro. He says:
"Neil can I flip this 1 Euro coin with you 6 times- if I win 6 times in a row I'll have 64 Euro's (min buy in is 50) and then I can sit down and play" Neil agrees and Johnny was sure going to beat Neil six times. In fact Blatch wins the first flip and Johnny looks devved. We agree that it would have been much more fun had he won the first 5 flips only for Blatch to win the 6th. Johnny however comes up with a revolutionary new plan and borrows 50 Euro and takes his seat. Bad idea.
Still short stacking and after a limped pot Johnny checks the big blind with 97hh. The board comes down 10h8h blank. Nice flop! Before he can decides what to Blatch fires 30 Euro at it having limped from UTG. Dealers says wait action is on BB (Johnny) and Johnny obv checks wanting Blatch's action (bad idea). Everyone folds to him and he shoves for 8 Euro more. Blatch says FML and calls with??? Now obv Blatch has limped from EP so he has some sort of monster. In fact 9 high is good. Blatch has 63 off and cannot hit a 6 as obv it would make Johnny a straight. The 3h is dead so Blatch decides to bink his two outs on the turn when it comes a 3c. Johnny hitting the river is about 1000/1 shot and he's sent to the rail. Blatch is literally crying with laughter. Seriously- never ever ever play a pot with Neil. You're just asking for pain.
Some hands later and our 3 blonde hero's Blatch, Cos and Flushy play out a pot. All the money goes in on a 10h 5h 8c board and the turn and river both comes hearts. Queue the slowrolls. Flushy flips the 4h. Both demand to see the other, Flushy declares this is his hand. It seems quite obvious to me that Flushy (who shoved over the top of a Blatch bet) must have the nuts. There's no other hand that makes sense at this point on that board. Blatch flips the 3 of hearts and Cos the Ac. A couple of mins later Blatch flips his other card (irrelevant), Cos laughs and slowly shows the Jh. Errr FAIL Cos. Flushy laughs and shows the Ah to scoop and must now be up to around 300 euro.
Now comes the killer hand. Blatch you die for this one but at the same time WP sir...
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Not lost interest at all. Degen stories are always entertaining :)
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Flipping for 200-300 euros. Credit crunch, Is that a breakfast cereal..
Nice read, keep it comming.
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great read, bu how on earth do you remember the detail of a whole day"s worth of hands, even down to suits.... paticularly hands you aren"t involved in yourself!?
Is that not standard?
doubt it, not a whole days worth of all that info....some yes, the big hands yes, the mistakes yes...but everything....Standard, i doubt.
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Top read George, sick gambling tales FTW
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And now the end is near..
OK so about 2 weeks after returning from Ireland I'm close to completing this report.
I awake on the Sunday morning at 11am and do my daily ritual (no not that one) and ring Shelley and speak to the kids. I know I've not mentioned them much during this report cos it's not really cool to say you miss your wife and your kids while you're jollying it up with the lads and play poker everyday but who cares- I'll say it anyway. I missed them!!! I spoke to to them all and they wished me luck (apart from Ace who just held the phone I think!)
I get a cab at 11.45 (being organised FTW) and take my seat and unbag my chips. Unbagging is awesome when you have loads of chips and I was still chip leader. Boyle come and do a quick interview with me. The organisers announce that we're playing hand for hand (151 remain and 150 get paid) and we painfully start the first level.
We quickly become 150 and people start to drop right left and centre. On the whole I'm not playing too many pots but have an aggro image from yesterday (a couple of the players are seated with me from my last table yesterday). Cat O Neill who'd I'd seen on the Women's Poker Open (yes I'm a tv Poker junkie, I have like ace in your face or whatever it's called) raises to 11k at 2/4k/500 utg playing about 60k. I look down at tens and set her all in. She folds and I take down my first decent pot to maintain my stack.
A round of the button later, a player I was playing with yesterday makes it 14k out of a stack of 120k on the button (spewy raises FTW). I have AK and 3 bet to 41k. He shoves without any thought and I SNAP high five call. He has A10 and I'm already feeling some sort of dread. A10 or any hand containing a 10 scares. Superstitious I know but I always seem to lose.
The KQ3 flop looks okish until the J hits the turn. Cue the over celebration from my opponent. I really hate this. Fine if you win when you're ahead or even if you win a big flip- fist pump a little. But when you suck out, keep quiet and take the chips.
So I'm down to 180k and am a little tilted at my opponent. He was a nice chap but the celebration had made me dislike him quickly. I was getting annoyed at his play too. He was obv getting a lot of hands and over-raising all of them. He tended to bet big pre when he had a pair/AK, raise small when he had a premium pair or limp when he had junk he wanted to see a flop with. He limps for 4k. I look down at 64 red and can't help but raise to 18k. Cat O Neill now shoves for like 20 more and when it folds back to me I have to call. Her Kings hold and now I'm down to 140k feeling pretty ****ty.
Two hands later and mr over raiser son makes it 20k at 2k4k. I peel at 10 10 and shove for 140k. Being chip leader at the start of the day and being all in 20 mins into the first level back was not the plan but eventually my opponent tank calls with AQ. I'm not losing flips this weekend and do a little fist pump myself (something I never normally do) when tens hold without a sweat. Back to 300k. MBSFN!
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I'm extremely relieved to be back to my starting stack at the beginning of the day and am thankful to survive after a huge flip. I know the absolute ribbing I would have got from the lads for min cashing after having the chip lead.
I tighten up my game as my image is pretty loose anyway. I keep my stack afloat by nicking the blinds occasionally but the chances to open are becoming very limited. The guy to my right is having the card run of his life and is opening every pot. Showing all kinds of hands. His pattern is to clearly overbet small pairs and with the table being fairly tight combined with the fact he is overbetting every pot he is taking a lot of pots without showdown.
I keep thinking to myself- be patient. You'll catch him but obv I can't help myself. At 3000/6000/5000 he opens to 30k in hijack+1! I'm sitting on 300k still and look at 10 4 off. Now this is a CLEAR fold as I have 4 players to act behind me and 3 bet/folding here would be ultra spewy. But for some reason before my brain can engage my mouth kicks in and says "100k" ****. What are you doing??? My chips are going in and I'm praying that it gets thru. I have 200k left behind which obv is not going in if the guy 4 bet shoves. In fact he just flats. Oh WP Sir. Set mining or looking for a 7 high board? The flop comes down A75 rainbow and I'm thinking that if he checks I'm c betting for half my stack. Pretty ****ing awful but I'm sure that he doesn't have an ace.
Another top read by George as matey saves me 100k when he insta shoves all in. NH Mr AK and well played! He does indeed flip AK after I fold and I mutter something about how lucky he is to hit his 3 outer "Put a King high flop out there one time!" I proclaim dramatically. The thing that was tilting me the most was that the villain had played the hand in the worst way poss. Cold call AK, wait for the A high flop and shove all in! Thank **** he didn't give me a chance to c-bet!!!
The break arrives at the right time and I have a chance to calm down and check in with the lads. I ring Shelley to update her and tell her about the guy on my right who's tilting me. Shelley is SUPERB in these situations and calms me down "Don't worry- you'll get him. Do what you do best (she hasn't seen me play poker much recently) and just play your game!"
I return to my table with Shelley's words ringing in my ears. The blinds are now 5k/10k so 20bbs for the win. Mr Villian has something like 800k and is clear chip leader of the tourney. His stack is awesome and I'm left thinking about the AK hand. What a perfect start that would have been...
About 15 mins pass when the following 2 hands occur which would flip the tourney on it's head. I have about 220k at the start of the hand and a very good young Irish player opens for 25k from the hijack. Mr Villian flats in the cut off and I look down at QQ. Squeeeeeeeeeze. I think for about 5 seconds and then announce all in. Original raiser folds and Villian is now tanking hard. I keep thinking "call call call" I don't care what you have. There's no way my Queens are getting cracked. After about 5 mins, he calls with AJ. Blanks on the board see my QQ hold up and I now have villain covered. Very next hand he opens for 45k and I look down at tens. I decide just to call whilst I'm still stack my chips.
The flop comes down an orgasmic K104, one diamond. Is there ANYTHING better then flopping a set in poker. Running a big bluff is awesome I know (we'll come to that later) but the feeling when you flop a set is sometimes indescribable (I need to get out more) He bets 40k. I peel because:
1) His c bet obv means he doesn't have much
2) There's not many draws out there so I don't have to worry about him catching up/the turn card killing my action
3) After losing a big pot, this guy might just spaz out on the turn.
The run comes an 8d and he insta shoves. SNAP call buddy. He has just shoved about 300k with a flush draw. He flips A6d and before I can think- dealer don't do it! The river is dealt out a beautiful. Black rag card and suddenly Mr chip leader at the break is out, I'm stacking around 800k and can hear Shelley's words ringing in my ears. I stack someone KK vs QQ about 5 hands later (after opening almost every hand since the coup) and I am up to a huge 925k. That's what I had in mind for today!!! My table breaks and I take my 4 chip trays (shameless brag) off to my next table for some more fun....
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Nothing much happens at my next table. My stack gets up to 1 million (do you know how awesome it is to say I've had 1 million chips live?!?!) and fluctuates between 850-900k. Blinds are getting quite big and the action is slowing down a bit. We're down to 4 tables. I win one decent pot with AQ but other than that I go on a period without too many hands. I have two fairly tight players to my left and keep raising their blinds. The table gets broken and I still have around 900k.
I get moved to my third table of the day. Cat O Neill is sat there with about 200k and I set about opening my fair share of pots. I'm not being played back at too much and I'm having quite a bit of banter about my [mod: removed] image.
I have about 850k at the start of this hand. This is the best hand I think I have played live and probably would never try this online (cos I'd probably get snapped) but I felt the conditions were right. The blinds are 15k/30k/2k (becoming a bit of a shoot at this stage).
I'm second to act and look down at A6dd and open to 76k. As soon as I did this I was wishing I hadn't. I mean I may as well have 42cc. I can't call a shove. I'm not gonna hit the flop hard enough most of the time and I'll probably be OOP post flop. 2 seats to my left, Frenchman playing about 800k flats and the big blind decides to call the extra so we're 3 way with about 250k in the middle. I've already decided I'm check/folding. There's no way I'm burning anymore chips.. I'm locking up my chips. Forget this. I still have 800 odd thousand..
The flop is 9c 9d 2c. gg checking the flop. There's no way I'm checking THIS flop. BB checks and I again find myself reaching for a bet. It bet 104k. I think on a board like this c betting under half pot gets the job done. Frenchman dwells, announces raise and makes it 300k total with about another 400k back. BB folds and it's back to me. I KNOW he has at best Jacks. Probably more like 77, 88 and maybe 10 10. I don't think he'd play a flush draw this way. I tank for about 90 seconds and decide he can't call I shove "I'm all in" I announce and wait for the insta call. instead Frenchman asks "How much?" I love those two words!!!
The press gather round. This is easily the biggest pot of the tourney. Please be right! I don't want to turn this hand over if he says call. He tanks. I'm sat there motionless, hands cupped over my face. I'm sure you've been through this one. I'm sat, looking ay his cards through my Ray Bans, all I'm thinking is one thing over and over and over again...
"Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold. Fold."
Eventually he gives up and mucks. I don't usually but I can't help myself. I flip the A6 triumpantlly and he physically recoils. He busts later when he gets shoved on and calls off with 55 against QQ. Tilt FTW.
Table breaks once more and I now have a healthy 1.6m. I'm already thinking about the final. They're setting up the cameras. The area looks plush. There's no way I'm not finalling this one. No way I'm not taking this one down... LOL Donkaments.
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LOL French players - nh
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And now the end is near...
I move to my new table and immediately raise the first pot taking down the blinds/antes. They're getting juicy now at 30k/60k/5000. The tourney is a shoot at the mo. Average stack is 11 big and I am chip leader with 1.8m so only 30 big blinds. Blinds move up to 40k/80k/5000 and the shorties start shoving.
A lot of meta game factors are also taking place. Food is being ordered and eaten as there is no dinner break and a sheet is handed to each player (there's around 15 left) asking them to fill in personal info such as nickname, biggest win and occupation etc. I decide that due to this people will start to lock up so now's the time to push the envelope. Let's get some more chips for the final! I'll be greedy! There's 12 million chips in play and I 1.8million of them so I could easily fold to final if I wanted to..
Looking back on the exit, and it's well documented, I REALLY wish I had tightened up a bit. I would never normally advocate this play but being at the final would have been awesome. It was live streamed so my family could watch and all in all I knew about 30 people there so when I made my entrance (each finalist was personally introduced) I would have got some ovation. Missing out on all that is worth more than the money. I was also told that I had some backing from a few Irish punters who had put money on me at 400/1. First place was a very healthy 62,000$ plus I myself had managed to put on £11.50 on at the price which would have meant another 4.5k English.
A couple of shorties shove with junk (one guy utg shoves with 5 bigs with K5 and another on the button with 6 bigs with 53) Both had the unfortunate pleasure of being called by eventual winner Marcus Sippe who managed to find AQ and AJ to bust both. He then gave them both the rub down by openly criticising their play. It just goes to show that even in a 1440 man field someone without any clue of how to play poker can somehow luckbox his way to a win.
I raise a couple more pots with AQ, taking down the blinds and showing my hand. "Look" I say "I'm not robbing you at this stage!"
I then open with Q6 UTG+1 (5 handed) and get called by Tight Frenchman on the button. I hit a 6 on a very dangerous board (KQ6104 3 clubs) and we check it down. I beat his A7ss and Sippe comment "Qveen Sixsh Eh? So Thatith whateth youareth reallyeth raisheth ussssss witheth"
I ignore him but unfortunately for me he would have the last laugh. Very next hand I open with A5 and tight Irish guy shoves. I have made it 185k at 40/80 and he shoves for another 460k more. I'm getting 2/1 and I know I'm a 3/1 one shot. I also know that I only have to pinch the blinds once to get most of my opening bet back but I still call- perhaps the Q6 hand I'd just shown clouding my decision. My opponent flips nines, we shake hands as is customary at this stage and the flop is dealt
The door card is an Ace. BINK! 1 more to the final! Weeeeeeee I'm running good! Boom!!! The flop is peeled back probably and a 9 is hiding behind the Ace. gg 650k.
So now I'm down to around 1.4m. Still above average and still playable. It folds round to me in the small blind. The right Frenchman has 580k total and I peel back Q10. This is quite a trivial shove. I stick him all in and he calls finding AJ. Fine I think. Just a Q or a 10 then dealer.. The board bricks out and A high is good.
I now have 800k and am still positive. I can comeback from this. We're 5 handed. If I'm aggro at the right times I can pick up those chips in no time. I know I'll know more about push/fold strategies at this stage then most of my opponents.
I find AJ utg and with 820k at 40/80/5k it's an easy shove 5 handed. I shove. It folds to the big blind- an Irish chap I'd been getting on with well. He apologises and says he has to call, flipping Kings. I stand up, my heart is literally sinking. This isn't how it was supposed to end. I shake his hand and wish him luck. Before the flop is dealt tho Sippe deals his final blow showing him for the type of guy he really is..
Now I know the score here. There are 11 of us left in the tournament. I'm the all in player so I know 10 other players in this tourney are hoping the Kings win. We all do it. We want to ladder. We want the player with the most chips to win. Sippe decides to verbalise this, looking straight at me and saying "Come on dealer.. Just put a King out there and knock this guy out" I very rarely get riled at a poker table but tell him to shut up before I shut him up.
The flop is dealt. OMG. Ace Seven Four. YES. I've got out of it. Somehow I'll have 1.6m again. I'm back. I promise I will nit up to the final. No more pinching. No more [mod: removed]edness. Talking about getting out of jail! All of these thoughts are running through my head in a nano second. I've not celebrated but I'm already counting the dough when the dealer stands up, punches me in the face and then sits back down to deal the King on the turn. That's it? Over? Norrrrr. 11th. Can't be.
I shake all of my opponents hands minus Sippe- wishing them luck and walk over to find out I've won 3200$. Obviously it's a nice sum of money but when you have your eyes on the prize it's scant consolation.
I don't care how many times it happens. Busting a tournament so deep hurts.. To the bone. I had come so far. Beaten over 1400 opponents but what did it actually mean. Not very much. So I was 11th. I didn't want 11th. I'd rather have 801st. Because I wanted to beat the biggest live field outside of Vegas. I wanted the accomplishment of winning and another trophy in the cabinet. FU poker... This one is gonna take a while to get over.
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Great reporting ... reading it like a fast paced book ... I knew the result but I wanted you to win as I read!
Makes me want to play poker ... not sure when I next get to hit the live tables.
Really looking forward to you taking something really big down and getting to write your book.
Well played.
Louis
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nice read, unlucky in the end. You just ran out of steam and a bit of luck deserted you when you needed it. It just goes to show the massive ammounts of luck that you need to win through a massive field. Especially with all the flips towards the end.
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Great read, George, extremely vividly described.
Someone offer this fella a job as a poker magazine journalist.
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superb read george, really amazed at the detail...I actually read it slow, scrolling only to read next bit ,so I didn"t spoil what was happnening next!
Page Turner FTW!
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Top TR george - I"ve loved this
You really captured the misery of busting late in a tourney.
PS - I miss my wife too when I"m away on these jaunts
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Brilliant,brilliant read!
Let"s hope there"s more where that came from!