Livin' La Vida Poker

So yesterday I went to my first live tournament (I'd been to pub games/home games, but nothing with a proper structure/dealer/in a card room etc.)


The event was the International's Team Event. 10 players per team, 11 (I think) teams entered for about 110 runners. Buy in was £30 + £5 for 8k chips and 2k bonus chips for £3. The structure was the top 18 got points, 1 for 18th, 2 for 17th etc etc and the team with the highest points at the end took 75% of the prize pool, with the other 25% being awarded to the top 11 runners. This meant that even if you took points, you weren't guaranteed a prize. Soft play towards team mates was allowed, and actually part of the strategy. Chip dumping was common, and was what won it for the team last year. Slow rolling was also encouraged by the TD. Needless to say, it was loud and raucous, but that was part of the fun. I was playing for the Hendon Mob forum team, who won the tournament last year. This year's team was:


myself
stowjon
Allen (Bogus)
darrensprengers
Dave (Dcsw7)
Dave (Dwh103)
Vinny (Dave's friend)
Ian (Doudeau)
Michelle (Ian's friend)
Paddy1969


As you can see, we had 3 Daves on our team, conversations got confusing.


Jon (stowjon) set off to London during this thing called the morning. With Jon being such a worry wart, we arrived at the venue a cool 2 hours early (although I reckon if he wasn't working Friday night, we would have set off then!). We looked around N1 for somewhere to drink, but of the 2ish pubs we found, all looked like if we ordered our drinks wrong we'd get a smack. We opted for waiting outside the club for 30 minutes since it was opening early. We eventually got inside, got talking to 2 members of Team Blapo and had a pint or two before everyone arrived.


Shortly after 2 we all sat down to play, everyone seemed to take the add-on (for less than a pint, why not?), so we all started with a 10k stack. Blinds started at 25-50 but rapidly increased. I was seated at seat 3, which for my first live tourney is probably the best place I could be placed.


I was certainly less nervous than I expected, I fell right into the game and was very comfortable. Partly because I'm confident I'm a good player and partly because matey to my left (captain of "Team Titty", I kid you not) was talking so loudly, I was barely noticed. After pay my blind, I was dealt my first hand, rags. Being the big blind, I had plenty of time to watch how the game went. It seemed that limping or raising 5x pre was the way this was played. This hand was mucked quickly.


My SB and I get dealt 10-7o, my table were all regs, talking to each other on first name terms, since I was new here, no one had an image of me (something I exploited later in the day). With just a couple of limpers, I raise up and get called in one place. Flop comes 10-8-blank, seeing the few hands that were mucked last hand, people where playing anything, I figured my pair was good, and I have runner runner outs. I bet into the flop and get called. Flop comes a nine. I bet, I get called. River comes Q (I think) and I bet out once more, he calls. I flip my pair and he mucks. I pick up 1-1.5k chips and any slight nerves that were there had vanished. I pile up my chips and the button is thrown around to me.


A few orbits later, I pick up AA from late position. 1 or 2 limpers and I min-raise. Matey who paid my 10-7 called. Flop comes king high, and his body changes. I'll stick a note in here, I seemed to be able to read people very easily yesterday (maybe because they were mainly bad players), nothing explicit however. I couldn't sit down and write a book saying person did x so he's got y. It was something subconscious but it worked. I have a feeling he's hit, maybe the king. He checks to me and I bet pretty hard. He can't put me on aces here, after our last pot. He gladly calls. Turn bricks, check bet call. River check bet, he thinks and calls. I flip my aces, I get an ooh from the table and he complains at me "You didn't play that like aces" and mucks. I'm up to 13-14k here. Then I go card dead.


Levels were 20 minutes, break after 4 levels. As noted, the blinds increased rapidly. If I remember, the first few levels were about 25-50, 50-100, 150-300 a25, 200-400 a25. My table broke in level 2, and I was moved onto a really quiet table, with a pro and some other decent players. I took blinds here and there, but without hitting any flop. I lost a few chips. I reached the break with around 8k chips.


I walk over to the rest of the team to here a few fell before the break, with stowjon knocking out bogus! A couple are doing well, a couple are straggling. To be expected. Break finishes and I sit back down. Card dead still. I eventually have 3 seats around me either get knocked out or moved table. I'm sat in a corner by myself, pretty innocuous. That's until I get 2 teams mates directly to my right and a reg to my left. Leftie and 2 to my right have a last longer, so I'm in a bad place. I'm losing my BB every orbit, and I'm not getting the cards. I eventually wake up with AK around the button, early position raises up for about 3x and I'm under 20 here so I ship over. He calls. I show, and he turns over KK. Knocked out my first tournament, to make it worse, 5 or 6? of my team are out now, and most are railing me. They all say unlucky Dave, I stay seated, I might as well see if I don't spike quad aces. Flop comes x-J-Q, straight draw, more outs. Turn is a 10, every one cheers, river is an ace...Split pot. I slump in my chair, and restack my chips.


Around this time, the Championship Play-off was playing, I cheer every time West Ham miss, much to the displeasure of a few of the table. One person asks if I'm a Seasider, I tell him no, I just don't want a London club to go up, I'd rather it be a Northern team. He gets really pretty angry and throws a few choice my way (as well as reminding me I was in London), deciding to now refer to me as "Northern Monkey", which scares me slightly due to my proximity to Hartlepool. I just laugh at him and must have put him tilt. A few hands later he's out, I tell him well played, he walks off muttering "Fucking Northern Monkey" under his breath. Unfortunately West Ham won, but they were the better team in fairness.


Blinds hit around 300-600 and I'm at about 6k chips now. 2 to my right is still betting erratically and being very loud. Every time the blinds are around me, Jon keeps saying to me, you need to wake up with something here. I'm easily bullied here, and I DID need to find something. 2 to my right is a reg called Sam, for those that have been to the Int, you'll know him. If not, he's a good sized fellow from Cameroon (I guess from the flag he was wearing around his neck). He's loud, excitable and an a really nice bloke, but he certainly doesn't take this kind of thing seriously. He bets out a ludicrous about in the cut off and I've got A-Qo in the SB. One fold then it's me, I insta ship and he starts chatting about the hand to parts of his team. He keeps shouting he wants to call and, shows his hand to his team (that was allowed in the team game) and they all laugh hysterically. He puts me an AQ and again there is more laughter and screaming. Inside I was laughing, but I just looked at the cards nonchalantly. His card protector is a huge coin, with an American Indian on it. Before he even flips it, his mate states, "you've already made your mind up this time, this is just for show". It comes down heads either way and he calls. I turn over my cards and he starts slow rolling. He's either got my crushed or I'm way ahead. He peels over 5-7o! Dealer deals the flop and it comes down blank blank 5. I sit silently as the turn bricks and the river is a 7 just for the rub down. I tap the table for nice hand I go and rejoin the team. pretty sick beat. But it happens.


I spent the next few hours railing sprengers, doudeuo and Vinny until registration opened for a £30 tournament, called the Behemoth. Starting stack was 15k with an available add-on of 3k for $3. Everyone seemed to be taking the add-on so I also opted to. Because of when we registered, I was sat to the left of Jon, however, he was absent for quite some time railing the final table of the team event. The whole table here knew each other, so I was a bit of a foreigner to them (not to mention my accent). During play, however, me and matey to my left got quite chatty and we had a laugh all through the tournament. Play here was really loose, basically everyone limping preflop, or calling any raises. One person, open folded 6-3 after betting on the turn with a pair of 3s on a Q high board. It was all a bit of a laugh, but the poker got more serious as the levels increased. 




The major hand I remember was before 1st break. It was my button and it folds to me. The BB was defending his blind furiously every time someone went for it. I had about 24 blinds or so (another fast blind structure) and he had me covered. I look down at A-6o, I raise up 2.5x and he calls this time (he's usually raising or shoving over), looks like he wants to play. Flop comes x-x-A (two low cards). He checks to me. He's got an ace here, I decided to see how much he liked it. I bet over half the pot and he calls. I'm not putting him on A-J+ here, probably a high Ace and he's got me crushed. Dealers then turns a 6, I'm winning. He checks over and I bet hard again, leaving myself a small stack, but one that will be great to shove. He readily calls. River comes high, a picture card I think. He checks and after some play tanking (I knew I was shoving here, but I wanted to give him something to think about), I put my last few chips all in. He tanks for a while, I look him straight in the eyes. I think he puts me on a bluff here and eventually calls. I show my 2 pair and he shows A-9, I count my chips for a healthy double up, and I get a nice hand from everyone around the table.



The Champs League final was well into full swing by now, and penalties where looming. Being in London, I was surrounded by Chelsea fans, Chelsea haters, Tottenham fans, Tottenham haters and even some Germans. There were equal cheers for Chelsea's misses and goals. The tournament was basically unplayable, due to the noise and people not paying attention. I was seated facing the projector screen so I could do both. I took this opportunity to take a few chips no one wanted.


My first experience of a ruling occurred during this period. Player in seat 10 was very drunk and being pretty obnoxious. He had a fair few notes on the game, and didn't really care about the poker. He calls pre, and proceeds to watch the penalties. He's first to act on the flop, the dealer asks for his play, and everyone at the table took his gesture to be a check. 2 more checks and preflop raiser bets into it and it's passed back to him. He checks, and the dealer tells him that he has to fold, bet or call. He argues he didn't check before so the dealer calls over the director. He's told all the information and after brief deliberation, gives seat 10 a word and says the bet still stands an he must act on that. He unwillingly folds and the game continues. (I am putting this on the forum to see what you all think.)


I sit at around 40k until we get down to 10 men. The TD decides to take a break while we move to FT and they chip up and get a count. Before the tournament, 5 of the team had already left, but the other 5 of us decided to play the Behemoth. Of the 5 of us, 2 of us made the final table, Dave and Dave, myself and Dcsw7, Dave being 2 to my right. Between us was Sean Foley (I kid you not). Blinds were now 800-1600, the majority of the table were about around 40k, myself at 39. Average was 45k, Dave had 49k. The leader had 160k! Sean had a couple of thousand, short stack.


We sat down after break. Play had nitted up, everyone trying to ladder to the money. I had the choice of joining them, or trying to make some moves. I chose for the latter. 2nd or 3rd hand in, I'm in early position with A-8hearts, a lot of players would probably tell you lay this down, but my time playing SnGs has taught me to love these kind of hands, mid-suited aces. I find them very easy to play, but I suppose every has their own game. Most of the table is around 20 BB here, I raise up to about 2.5-3x. Matey to my direct left thinks a while then ships over, I have him JUST covered. Folds back to me, I go into the tank. It's not aces, he would have called me and trapped. I'm not putting him on kings here, it's a decent pocket pair. Maybe two other nines, but probably 10-10/J-J. Feel free to discuss my decision here, but I'm raising here to 4 bet all-in or call any shove that I rule out KK-AA and A-K. After a few moments, I call him. He turns over queens (unfortunately with the queen of hearts) and I show my A-8. Dave shouts over "good luck". Flop bricks for me, except for one heart. Turn is nothing and a blank river means I'm down to 2200 hundred chips, one and a quarter blinds. Dave remarks it's time for an epic come back, I state I've won SnGs coming back from an ante. Next hand I'm UTG with nothing, I muck. Next hand is my BB, hopefully I'll pick something up. I pay my blind and look at my 4 blue chips. Cards come around and I have KJ, nice fold I told myself. Someone in early raises, who is promptly 3 bet. Folds to me, I have no choice to call, but I'm shipping over here regardless of my stack. Initial raiser folds. Matey turns over aces, I grab my coat.


I go see how Jon is doing on the cash table, he's up about tree fiddy so far. He asks if we want to leave, but I told him I'll go rail Dave since Jon is crushing the table. I got knocked out shortly before midnight, come past 1 and Dave gets out of his seat, he's slowly blinding out. In that time, he's seen but 1 picture card (let alone an ace) and that came with a three. 10 minutes before matey from my first table whispers to me, "Is that guy Hendon Mob?", I nod, "He hasn't played a hand in nearly an hour, if he goes all in, I'm running." Seems like a few people have noticed. Dave has around 5/6 BB, I tell him now to start shipping any picture card, and most connectors. Everyone knows he's waiting for a monster, so he should be able to steal blinds, and even get called by hands he can beat. Dave sits back down around the BB, and it folds to matey, he raises up. Dave ships and gets called. Dave shows 10s and matey has A-K. Dave's first hand in over an hour and he's flipping. Dave grabs his coat and turns around, I shout unlucky as the flop shows an ace, apparently this was the first he knew of it. Flop nothing and the river is another ace for the rub down. We both walk off to start railing Jon.


Jon is playing basically every single hand here, and winning them all. He asks if I'm ready to go, I told him to have a few more orbits since he's got the table sussed. Short time later, Jon tips the dealer and goes and cashes in. A healthy stack of £50s in his wallet and we leave the club. We say goodbye to the forumites left and head back to the van. After the most convoluted drive around Hackney courtesy of the sat-nav, we land on the M11 and drive back to Cambridge. Exhausted after 6 hours kid in the past 48 hours, and my stomach growling after no (substantial) food for 30; I opt for a bottle of Ribena and a couple pints of water, sticking some pro gaming on the projector, I climb into bed, and sleep until 5pm today. Absolutely great day.


To sum up, I'm going to mention a few things I've learned.


Yesterday's tournaments played much more like online cash than online MTTs. Limping pre seems to be a profitable strategy with most holdings, extracting the most value on the turn. Whether this is the case in all tournaments is something I'm to learn. 


Aggressive preflop play that is common place online is much rarer live, a style I take online. Aggressive players stick out a sore thumb and seem much easier to beat and get chips from. Slowing my game down and floating works wonders.


I adapted to live play immediately, and even adjusted my play on the fly, taking full advantage of my opponents.


Confirmed my beliefs that gapped connectors are great hands to play early.


Every prick and his dog have Beats by Dre.

Late re-entry

So after a massive break from blog writing, I've decided to start up again. The plan is to have a combination of poker and other musings, and hopefully update regularly!


Poker wise, I'm in a good position. I've put up a $150 roll on Stars to play some MTTs, with 50% of that backed, and I have a small roll on Genting (48 quid that I've grinded up from 20 so far) that I'm just casually playing. There's a lot of potential for me to be playing and I'm hoping this blog will help motivate me further.


 As far as the MTT backing is going; I'm slipping behind on volume played, and I'm behind on ROI, however, I've been playing well. I hope it's just a matter of time before that big score!


I'm not using any sort of bank roll management on Genting, just playing what and when I feel like. The traffic on there is dismal at best, and the software is appalling, however the play is fishy. It's more aimed at a spin up, than a grind. If I spin up a decent enough amount, the plan is to play a SnG organised on the Hendon Mob Forum for the Edinburgh leg of the GPS.


I feel like I'm having a rough time in life, though. It's not affecting my game, luckily. I find when I open up a table or two and start to play, I can get focused on the game and forget my worries, therapeutic if you will. It's the times that I'm alone with my thoughts that get to me, I may elaborate more on this in the future.


I think I'll wrap up there, and end the night playing some PLO cash on Genting.