some mates at uni frequently go to the casino just to play roulette and i'd been meaning to join them on a trip for a while, so whilst drunkedly standing outside a club at 2am on a wednesday night and talks about going to the casino emerged i was prettttty keen. 30 minutes on a bus and we were outside the empire casino...and i headed to straight to the poker room whilst the others went to play roulette.
i thought buying in for 200 would be pretty standard, however i was very short stacked at the table. average stack was probably about £700-800 and the guy to my left had atleast 1.5k. I won a small pot preflop with aces, and about a £30pot with top pair with a flop bet, and then the big hand...The whole table has limped to me & I make it £20 with aces (i run good) and surprisingly get 4 callers, inclusing the sb. the flop 8h-6h-4s. the sb leads for £50. with so many players behind i just call. then the original utg limper makes it £150. other two callers pass and the sb folds. i wasn't loving the situation but with about £330 in the middle and only £130 behind, i went all in. although it was only £30 more to call he started seriously dwelling up. sweet. he then called. i showed, and he said he needed some help. even better. the turn and river were both 10's and he mucked.
i played another not particulary evenful hour, and cashed out +£350, making it a pretty sweet end to the night. I met my other mates and we decided that a full english breakfast would be in order...he was up £150 too. he goes to cash out and me and my other mate are just waiting watching some roulette...we then turnaround and my mate never made it to the cage and he's playing blackjack. at £40 a hand. i come over watch two hands which he loses and now he's down £60! d'oh!! oh well- we still get that full english in putney and its pretty awesome seeing all the commuters get on the tube whilst you are just coming back from the night.
so overall, really fun night and a bit more live poker success, sure my good luck live will run out soon. would love to play more there but don't have the roll to play in it properly, so i think i'll just go a few more times hopefully on spontaneous trips!
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Saturday, 6 February 2010
New Years in Vegas!
8 days in Vegas over New Years? Ideal! Have been back now for nearly a month so this is a bit of a delayed post. I wrote down some of the key hands to jog my memory and I've just gone through these main ones.
Anywayzzzzz...Before we went, I was hoping to play lots of poker to get in gear before we flew to Vegas at the end of December. That never happened; general Christmas mayhem meant that I hadn’t really played any poker for about four months. Plenty of some hot shit scenarios from bushy and adam on the flight and a skim read of Harrington however, and I felt good to go….
So, here are the hands I played....
1. The first session we play was at the MGM. I buy in for $150 and we all sign up together but get put at different tables. This is my first live cash game so wasn’t that confident about what I was doing and found it pretty hard just following the game. Zoid. About 20 mins in and getting a better feel for the table, in MP I raise to $7 with 8d8s. The button makes it $15, the BB calls and I call.
The BB and myself check a flop of Qs-8d-4s.
The button bets $20 and then the BB C/R’s to $55. I think about just flat calling, but pretty sure the BB will call my all in and I didn’t want to get too tricky and go with the push…then the button insta calls! And so does the BB. The turn and river are both 4’s, and I start to think I lose to an over pair, oooops! Thankfully, the Button tables KK and the BB mucks his flush draw and it’s pretty much the ideal start.
2. $80 freeze out at Caesars. 65 runners, $1300 for 1st. This was a great place to play poker but the tournament with a 20 min clock and big antes and blind increases meant there wasn’t much post flop poker towards the later blind levels. Things start badly when I bluff half my stack on the first level against the wrong player who was a bit of a calling station. I then defend a button raise with Ks8s.
The flop is As7s3d.
I CRAI and get called by AK no spades. I river the spade, easy game. Down to 3 tables I make a pretty big pass with 10-10 pre flop with only an M of 5 after an UTG push. I should of pushed in hindsight. A lap later, I then push with 5,2o in the cutoff and BB thinks for 5 minutes and then wins with A10. All three of us crashed and burned and this tourney was on NYE so could have been a great start to the night…
3. $1-2 at the MGM. Aggressive UTG makes it $10, folds to me, and I just call with AK in the BB.
The flop is KQJ- rainbow and I check.
He bet’s $15 and I call. The turn is an 8 and I check. He insta pushes for $90. I don’t love the way I played this, but I felt he was just trying to buy the pot and called…he had JJ, and I didn’t hit the 10. Probably too marginal a spot to play but anyways…
4. Still at the MGM, I raise the cuttoff with Ks7d to $7. A good tight player on the button makes it $15 and I call.
The flop is As8s3s.
I check and he insta bets $40. I push for $130. He starts sighing and generally looks pretty pissed off. Ideal. He then stands up, uh-oh…, and says “I KNOW you have the King of Spades!!!” He then calls, I for some reason can’t hit my flush this time and felt pretty disgusted when I was shown Kh8h for the winning hand. Sick call without the ace and any spade. I genuinely believe that this player had seen both my cards from his speech and his call (and the fact that I am a bit of an idiot and wasn’t looking at my whole cards too discretely!)
5. $1-2 at
Checks round to the button who bets $20. I am the only caller. The turn is a 10. I check and call the buttons AI of $65 and beat KJ.
6. Mandalay Bay. I am in the cuttoff and it’s been straddled to $5 and called in 3 spots. I have JJ and raise to $25. The straddler then makes it $50. Hmmmmmm. I am playing $200ish and the straddler has me covered. I call.
The flop is A-K-3 and he checks. I check back.
The turn is a pretty interesting J. He bets $50. I’m honestly not loving this because AA, KK make a lot of sense. I shove it all in though and when he insta calls I’m feeling pretty sick. He then tables AK, phew, and I hold. Two hands later the same guy hits a straight flush for a $200 bonus and a nice pot so he wasn’t too annoyed.
7. MGM. With $200, I raise to $7 UTG+2 with 5-5. Standard 8 callers.
The flop is As-5c-6d.
I bet the flop for $22 and get called by the button. The turn is a 6h and I bet $40. Button calls. The river is another ace and I check. He bets $100. I fold…..but thankfully get shown an ace.
8. MGM.Only playing $100, and 4 callers, I limp on the button with 5s6h.
Flop is 5-5-8- Rainbow.
Checks to button who bets $30, I jam and the BB calls. Uh-oh. Button folds and I lose to 5-7.
9. Mandalay Bay. It’s straddled and I call with 8-8 UTG (playing $400). 4 other callers and the straddler checks.
The flop is Ah-8d-Jd.
Checks to straddler who bets $25. I make it $75, folds back round to straddler who calls. The turn is a Q. Straddler checks and I set her all in for $100. She calls with A-10 and I hold….
10. Mandalay Bay. I limp with 3-3 playing $350 in MP, 6 players see the flop of...
3s-8d-6d.
BB bets, $8 I just call and a good Chinese woman calls too. The turn is 7c. BB bets $25 and I call and so does the Chinese woman. The river is the Qc. BB bet’s $35. Pretty confident I’m beating the BB and raise to $90. Then the Chinese flat calls…..spicy. The BB calls the extra $55. BB has 8-6 and the Chinese lady scoops with 4d-5d.
So, I played about 9 sessions in total, longest one was 13 hours straight! and six of the nine sessions were profitable. Overall I was up around $600 through poker. My game was pretty embarrassingly nitty though, which although definitely very exploitable isn’t such a bad thing in Vegas and probably always going to be profitable at those stakes. If there’s a next time, hopefully I’ll have more of a roll and be able to be a bit more adventurous….
Since I’ve been back I’ve been running pretty well online just playing 50c-$1 mainly FR. Once we get the interent I’m going to buy HEM or PT3 and try and get some stats going. I also had a post-club
trip to the Empire casino in London
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