Live Poker

For a few weeks now, I have been arranging to go to Aspers casino in Newcastle with a few friends to play in their weekly Friday night £20 freezeout. 14 people turned up and at about 6.30pm we left for Newcastle, arriving at Aspers at about 7.15. We all registered and brought in for the tourney and had a few drinks before the start at (I think) 8pm.

The structure was ok I guess, there was a 4K starting stack, with 1K added if you were in your seat for the first hand of the tourney, making it a 5K stack with 30 minute levels, however, the blinds doubled each level and so after a couple of hours, it becomes a bit of a shove/fold game.

It quickly became clear that the standard of play at this tourney was very poor. About the third had in, a player 4 seats to my left called a raise preflop and then called 3 streets on a AK7T4 (or equivalent) board with Q high, only to win the hand vs 53o.

About 20 minutes in I get 77 in mid position and decide just to limp as I know I will get action if I hit a set and given the players at the table, would probably get 4-5 callers if I raised, who would call me down to the river with A high, not something I really want with 7s given all the overcards that are likely to hit... so I just limp, about 4 other limpers and the flop comes down 5 way, KJ5. I check, a player to my left bets and is called by 2 other players. I decide that 7s are surly not good here and muck. Turn is blank, the player to my left bets again and is called by 1 player and the river is another blank. The player to my left bets about 1/10th of the pot and is called. He shows A5 for A high and the other player mucks T9, folding 7s suddenly looks a bit weak....

About 20 mins later I get KJo in the BB, the player in MP who is a massive fish and has played in almost every hand so far (and managed to treble his stack) limps along with a couple of others and I raise it to about 4.5BBs in the BB. The fish in MP calls and everyone else folds. The flop comes Kxx with 2 diamonds. I bet out about 2/3 of the pot and he calls, turn is the J of diamonds, putting 3 to a flush on the board, I decide to bet a little under 2/3 of the pot putting about 2K of my 4K stack on the table and my opponent goes all in. I have seen him call down to the river with a lot of weak hands, but the few times he has shown aggression he has always had a strong hand so I was pretty sure he had the flush here. I eventually fold, he says 'good fold, I had you there' and shows me A4 of diamonds.

After about and hour and a half the blinds are 200/400 and my stack is 3.3K so I am looking for a spot to get it AI. I am in the BB, there are 4 limpers including the player who turned a flush vs my 2 pair and I look down at 98 of clubs. I check in the big blind and the flop comes down QT7 with 2 clubs. The pot is 1200 and I have about 2200 left, I am really hoping to get it AI as an open ended straight draw + flush draw is pretty much the nuts here. It was me to act first and I had 3 options: 1) Open shove 2) Go for a c/r 3) Bet out and hope to get raised. In retrospect I think option 1 is by far the best because, since I am probably only 50/50 here and the pot is already very large compared to my stack, I am quite happy to win the pot on the flop. Open shoving either wins me 1200 100% of the time, or, when I am called, 6000 50% of the time (assuming that if I am called I am 50/50 to win the pot). Since my tournament life was on the line, and openshoving gives me the most fold equity, I think it would have been the best line to take. However, instead I decided to bet 1000 into the 1200 pot (don't ask why). I get called by my flush friend and everyone else folds, the turn bricks and I am left with a 1200 stack and the pot is now 3500. I shove and he calls me with T8, I manage to miss all of my gazillion outs on the river and so bust out in about after about an hour and a half.

I find that 3 of my friends have also already busted out and so we go to the bar for a drink and I get a bite to eat. We chat about the usual for a while (bad beats) and I decide to put my name down for the £1/£2 pot limit cash table, even though I am nowhere near rolled for it. About 15 minutes later a new table is started and I buy in for the minimum £50. The table was self dealt and we started out 6 handed. All the players brought in for £150+ apart from one other studenty looking player who brought in for £50 as well.

First hand I am in the BB and get dealt QQ, the button and small blind limp and I raise the pot, they both fold and I decide to show. I think that showing hands in poker is generally a bad thing as you are giving away information, but playing with a 25BB stack I want to build myself a tight image, and raising the first hand isn't going to do wonders for my image unless I show a good hand.

After about 20 mins there are 9 players round the table, most of whom have a full £200 stack. The standard of play is appalling with 4-5 limpers in every pot and 2 fish to my right who habitually call down to the river with T high just for fun, I would seriously compare it to a 1p/2p game on pokerstars.

I get dealt A9s in MP after the 2 fish limp, I decide to raise pot before realising that it was probably a bad idea because there are 4 players to act behind me, I only have 25BBs, and the button was really aggro. So probably a bad raise, but it was too late. The button calls as well as the two fish to my left and the flop comes down a glorious 478 of diamonds giving me the A high flush. The two fish check and I decide to check to the button because I am about 90% sure he will bet. He obliges, the 2 fish call and I call with the intention of betting the turn. I don't think slowplaying is bad here at all because given my stack size, a half pot bet will put me AI on the turn. The turn is the 5 of diamonds putting 4 to a flush on the board. The first fish checks and the 2nd one bets about 1/5 of the pot. I shove for about 1/2 the pot and the button and first fish fold. My opponent asks me if I have the 6 of diamonds for the straight flush and then calls with the K of diamonds. Et voila, I scoop a pot of £138.

I continue to play tight, folding small pocket pairs in early position and not raising without a premium hand, even in late position. My stack stays at around £130 for about 40 minutes and I suddenly realise that I am playing with scared money. I was playing way above my bankroll with money that would affect me far too emotionally if I lost it and so I decided to finish the orbit and leave the table.

The next hand I get dealt AK of hearts on the button. The player under the gun makes a very small raise (just over a min raise) and is 3-bet by another player in early position. The two fish to my right cold call the 3-bet and I pot it to £45 on the button. The raiser and 3-better both fold and it takes the first fish a couple of seconds to call, the 2nd fish folds. The pot is now about £100 and I have just under £100 left. The flop comes down 367 of clubs and it is checked to me. I decide not to shove because I am probably not going to get called by worse and I think that I can fairly easily get to showdown because my opponent is so passive (he has regularly checked down top pair to the river). I check behind and the turn is the J of clubs, I curse the poker gods and check behind again. The river is a blank and again, it is checked to me, I check behind and my friendly fish turns over T9o with the T of clubs. I decide not to show my AK and instead call over the waitress for a cup of tea.... it was either that or shout abuse at the fish, but I think a cup of tea is more +EV.

I wait 2 more hands, fold them both and then leave with an £80 stack, I go to the cash desk to cash out and then find my friends at the bar.

4 or 5 of us it appeared were still in the tourney and it was down to the last 2 tables, but given the standard of poker I was not surprised. About half an hour later it was 1.30am and breakfeast was served in the restaurant, I opted for another cup of tea and we all exchanged bad beat tables round the breakfast table.

Another half an hour and there was only 1 of us (a Stockton lad who I don't know) left in the tournament as Matt had busted in 9th for about £100. We finished our breakfast and were presented with at £10 free bet for spending over £10 in the restaurant. We managed to run it up to £90 on the blackjack table before loosing it all and we decided that it was time to go home.

A bit after 2am we left Aspers, but it seemed that none of us had had enough poker and so we went to Aidens college in Durham to play some 5p/10p cash.

At about 3am we started the game in the canteen of Aidens college and I have to say that the following events are very blurred in my mind and so are probably not 100% accurate.

This is what I remember: The game was 6 handed, and 4-5 way flops were not uncommon. Even though all 5 of us were fairly good poker players, the standard of poker quickly deteriorated. A couple of hours in I get dealt 2 suited cards (can't remember what they were), its folded to me in the small blind and I raise, the big blind folds and James who straddled UTG calls me. The flop comes down paired (99 I think) with 2 diamonds and I c-bet. James calls my c-bet and the turn is a 3rd diamond giving me a low flush (7 high I think). I check to James because I think he bets a lot of the time here given the board texture, he also knows that I am a bit weak tight and so will give up on pots a bit too easily so it would make sense for him to bet here. He does and I c/r him all in, he thinks for a while and eventually calls me with (I think) Q9 for trips. A few murmurs about slowrolling are heard, and James who was dealer for this hand takes about 2 minutes to deal the river card, eventually dealing a Q giving him a full house (live poker is so rigged!).

The next 4 hours or so involved me playing some of the worst poker I have played in a long time, including such gems as 4-betting 73o preflop vs James and then betting 2/3 of my stack on a board of AKJT, James tanked for ages, almost folded, but instead decided to raise me with AT, of course I couldn't call and so had to fold. Other classics included Nick calling my raise blind and then check/minraising the flop without even looking at his cards, the punch line being that I folded! This annoyed me so much that a couple of hands later I decide to check blind in the BB after a couple of limpers, the flop comes down A35 and the button bets into me, I decide its time to look at my cards and look down at KK, the best hand I have been dealt all night. I am too tilted to fold the flop and so call and manage to get to showdown, only to be shown A7o by Sam. The best hand of the night however has to go to Nick who called the flop and turn with an open ended straight draw, hitting it on the river, only to find that he in fact only had 4 to a straight.

At about 8am Aidens students started appearing for breakfast and we managed to grab some cereal and toast before returning to the game, it also turned out to be 'Aidens Day' an annual festival and students started setting up 'ents' around the canteen and bar area, seemingly oblivious to 6 people playing poker in the corner.

At about 9am it happened, the hand that almost killed me. We were playing the 72 game which meant that if any player won a pot with 72 then they got 25p from each player at the table, however, for some reason in the 8 hours of poker so far, only 2 72s had been dealt. So anyway, I am in late position and look down at 72o, Nick limps and I raise, getting called by James and Nick. The flop comes 553 with 2 spades, it is checked to me and I bet just under the pot hoping to steal it there, I thought that betting into both James and Nick would look really strong here as they know that I know that they will call me down with K high (or something like that), but no, James calls my bet and Nick folds, the turn is another low card, maybe a 6 and we both check. The river is the 2 of spades putting 3 to a flush on the board and James bets about £6 into an £8 pot, I have £3.50 behind. I think for a few seconds before showing my hand and folding, surly I am NEVER good here. I ask James to show his hand and he eventually turns over AQ. I stand up and feel physically sick, I think I was actually shaking. Never have I felt so bad at poker, every bluff I had made was called, every call I made was bad, I had been bluffed out of god knows how many pots, and then this! I couldn't believe it, and it took me a good 10 minutes to get back to the table, still feeling physically ill.

With my last £3, I decide to shove AT of hearts from the BTN and get called by the usual suspects, Nick and James. The flop comes down J high, Nick calls James' bet, but folds KTo to his bet on the turn. The river comes a third spade and James shows KT of spades for the flush.

Somehow I have 85p left (not sure why) and so made it a bounty for anyone who bluffed James out of a pot, anything to make me feel better.

At 11.30am, we decided to finish the game, and went home. I ended up breakeven for the night, winning about £35 at aspers and loosing about £40 at the home game, but even though I played some of the worse poker known to man, it was such fun.

Anyway, now hopefully I have enough FPPs to but a wife :)