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Pokerpops ponders poker
pokerpops:
Three more sleeps till Luton
To say I am looking forward to this event would be a massive understatement. My fear is that I am looking forward to it too much and that my game will suffer as a result. To counter this I"ve offered Steve Roderick a last-longest wager with either a cash outcome or some form of forfeit. I"ve also offered to back Team APAT to outscore Team Blonde for similar stakes.
The Blonde team is pretty high-powered and loaded with Hendon Mob Flags with George2Loose as it"s captain following an impressive campaign to be selected for the task. I"m wondering if my bravado might have been a touch foolish, but as long as I outlast Rod I"m free-rolling the team bit of the bet :P
pokerpops:
Home game last night, followed by a very last minute entry into the G £10rb. I shoved KJs from utg and Lucy made a decent call with A6hh and hit her A.
I registered for the rb with a matter of seconds left on the break and sat with 9000 chips at 100/200/25 for my £30. They need to rethink the chips in this tournament I think, the game nearly didn"t start at all because at 8pm there were only 6 registered. This for a game with a £1k guaranteed prize pool.The decision to cancel the game was made at 8.10 but that was just too hasty with a handful of players turning up minutes later. Eventually the casino bowed to the pressure of players wanting it to start but restricted the guarantee to £750 saying that if the pool made that amount they would go to the full £1k.
My entry took the pot to £770...
I chipped up to 18k pretty quickly and then had to raise-fold a couple of times when my button, cut-off and hijack raises ran into hands behind me. Trivial folds every one of them, and just one, two or three of those things, but expensive in total.
There were a few ransoms at the table who seemed pretty resistant to folding preflop and whilst I picked up chips in a few hands I lost a chunk when one of the them check shoved a KQxhh flop having called my raise with K9o and my Qh Jh didn"t improve. The rest went in later with QQ and couldn"t hold vs AK.
I switched to the cash table for a brief session which I cut short due to it being one of the most boring tables I can remember having sat at for quite some time. I was I in danger of getting too spewy and for once I recognised the potential for it and got up and left just a few ££ down.
One amusing moment occurred when I opened from utg+2 to £3 and saw one of the regular serial callers 3bet to £6 and then a cold 4bet from the BB to £18.
I laughed and folded and once Ray had folded too I offered the BB £5 if he could show me a hand that was less than KK. He didn"t claim the money....
Tomorrow I set off for Luton and a chance to play a tournament with a great structure and in some great company. I"m planning on having a beer or two tomorrow, I very rarely do this because a) I tend to be the designated driver; b) casinos tend not to serve traditional ales and c) I always felt that somehow, having a drink would reduce my capacity to play the game at my best.
Tomorrow, we can get a taxi, I"m lowering my sights to drink some form of bottled beer, probably Bud or similar and c) The constant stream of Carib which found it"s way to my table in St Kitts didn"t seem to affect me that much :)
I am, officially, really looking forward to this
kevod85:
--- Quote from: david3103 on January 25, 2013, 13:00:25 PM ---
Home game last night, followed by a very last minute entry into the G £10rb. I shoved KJs from utg and Lucy made a decent call with A6hh and hit her A.
I registered for the rb with a matter of seconds left on the break and sat with 9000 chips at 100/200/25 for my £30. They need to rethink the chips in this tournament I think, the game nearly didn"t start at all because at 8pm there were only 6 registered. This for a game with a £1k guaranteed prize pool.The decision to cancel the game was made at 8.10 but that was just too hasty with a handful of players turning up minutes later. Eventually the casino bowed to the pressure of players wanting it to start but restricted the guarantee to £750 saying that if the pool made that amount they would go to the full £1k.
My entry took the pot to £770...
I chipped up to 18k pretty quickly and then had to raise-fold a couple of times when my button, cut-off and hijack raises ran into hands behind me. Trivial folds every one of them, and just one, two or three of those things, but expensive in total.
There were a few ransoms at the table who seemed pretty resistant to folding preflop and whilst I picked up chips in a few hands I lost a chunk when one of the them check shoved a KQxhh flop having called my raise with K9o and my Qh Jh didn"t improve. The rest went in later with QQ and couldn"t hold vs AK.
I switched to the cash table for a brief session which I cut short due to it being one of the most boring tables I can remember having sat at for quite some time. I was I in danger of getting too spewy and for once I recognised the potential for it and got up and left just a few ££ down.
One amusing moment occurred when I opened from utg+2 to £3 and saw one of the regular serial callers 3bet to £6 and then a cold 4bet from the BB to £18.
I laughed and folded and once Ray had folded too I offered the BB £5 if he could show me a hand that was less than KK. He didn"t claim the money....
Tomorrow I set off for Luton and a chance to play a tournament with a great structure and in some great company. I"m planning on having a beer or two tomorrow, I very rarely do this because a) I tend to be the designated driver; b) casinos tend not to serve traditional ales and c) I always felt that somehow, having a drink would reduce my capacity to play the game at my best.
Tomorrow, we can get a taxi, I"m lowering my sights to drink some form of bottled beer, probably Bud or similar and c) The constant stream of Carib which found it"s way to my table in St Kitts didn"t seem to affect me that much :)
I am, officially, really looking forward to this
--- End quote ---
I will be joining you on table 2 tomorrow and i am also really looking forward to this!
pokerpops:
So, the APAT Team Poker Championship came and went with me not troubling the cashier. Nor, indeed having to worry about being in the G Casino Luton for a second day.
I"m not happy with the early exit, but not having to go back to the Casino was no hardship. I have to say I was disappointed with the venue. A shortage of serving staff when we first arrived and a shortage of dealers for cash games in the evening plus a pretty dodgy beef burger put me off.
The journey down was interesting.... It took three attempts to get my car off the drive at home and even the bus routes were tricky. Picked up Lucy and headed off to get Brian who had offered to walk from his house to the shops which meant we could stay on a bus route. A text arrived telling me he would be in the car park at the pub which must be a good mile from his house, followed shortly after by one telling me he had walked on and was waiting for us just off the A19. A total walk of getting on for two miles through snow. What a star he is.
We got to Luton with little drama found the hotel and bumped into a few of the other players. One of whom took a look at my pokerpops hoody and said "shame it"s been called off". :)
Met up with Carl and the rest of the team, proudly donned my Team APAT shirt and exchanged a few words with those of the opposition that I knew. Rodders and I confirmed our £10 last longest and eventually the tournament started.
I sat tight for the first few hands but it seemed to me that Glenn Laming was opening a lot and so, when he raised from utg on my SB I decided it was time to get involved and 3 bet with deuce four off suit :)
My c-bet on a Q66 flop was called so I checked the 3 turn with a view to folding to any bet. Glenn checked and the 5 on the turn allowed me to lead out for 1500 and unfortunately Glenn had AQ and pretty much had to call. Image blown...
The four seats to my left were all playing pretty snug and I opted to open from hijack, cut off and button and was chipping up nicely. One small setback arrived when I opened AK, got a small 3bet from Paulie, made the 4bet and foundmyself facing a 5 bet... Those of you who have played with Pauile before will know that I should almost certainly 4bet fold here, but the extra cost to see a flop seemed worth paying but a 234rb flop meant that I folded to his bet before being shown the obvious hand. I just went back to plan A and chipped back up. Had a few decent pots without showdown, flopping a set of eights on A8x and getting called on the flop but not the Q turn was frustrating. Raising Q6, c-betting second pair (the 6) on the flop, checking the A turn and getting paid off when the Q arrived on the river was a bonus. The unfortunate Tony Trippier had the A and opined that I was a lucky so and so after that one.
Shortly after that I played the hand that features on the strategy board... Not proud of that hand, although the call with A8 on the river of that board is a losing call pretty often vs me and depended on a pretty accurate read by FatPants. Meh, move on.
Re build.
If only.
It was very shortly after that I got a table move and good luck anyone getting John Murray or Richard Baker to give up their blinds that easily. My first raise on the new table was with pocket tens, ah the irony of it, if only that had been my hand earlier... I c-bet the Q high flop and Curlage called, I checked the A turn and folded to his bet.
And then... BvB me v John Murray, I raised pre and fired three streets with an all in on the river on A2466. Can"t get him to fold much, and he"s definitely not folding 44 having flopped a set and rivered the full house :(
Note to all who have staked me in the past and may be considering staking me in future. I don"t spew often these days. But when I do, it"s a big one!! As it was, I got into a bad mindset. The team had little or zero chance of making the top three and I had little or no chance of cashing without getting aggro at this stage. APAT tourneys have a great structure for the buy in, but I had settled into my A for aggro game mood and on this day I couldn"t find it in me to switch to a shove/fold mentality.
I hung around in the casino in hopes of the offered 50/50 cash table opening. Eventually one of the locals volunteered to deal so that a second table could open and I sat to play some £1/£1. My heart wasn"t in it, nor my mind on it and I got up and left the casino before midnight.
Sunday"s PingPong tournament was great fun. Shame I"ve lost what small degree of ability I once had for the game. Three 2-0 defeats for me and a position propping up the rest of the group. It was a fun way to spend the Sunday morning and I do hope that this, or something similar happens at future APATs.
Huge respect to Matt for organising it and to Leigh for turning up to blog live reports on it. Very well done to Ryan too for winning it. Hope that trophy is displayed in a prominent position.
In other news - DTD are running an online Day1 for this weekend"s deepstack. There will be a staking proposition up shortly.
pokerpops:
I am officially not very good at poker right now.
The DTD online Day 1 was a frustrating experience with me being dealt lots of small to mid pairs, and missing flops every time bar one when I managed to leave a huge amount of value on the table.
Eventually I shoved BvB with AJ and lost to K9 which the villain then announced as his "favourite hand"... I picked up A2hh the next hand and ran into QQ
The online Day 1 is here to stay though and is, I think, another great innovation from DTD.
Locally live it feels like I"ve been owned by everyone in the tournaments over the last couple of weeks. I tilted big style on Sunday and busted out just after the break.
I"d dealt for the first three levels and had asked for someone else to take on the responsibility when we resumed. Returning to the table after the break our volunteer was nowhere to be seen so muggins dealt. A mis deal because I didn"t notice that there was a second player who hadn"t made it back. My frustration got the better of me and I"m ashamed to say that I spread the cards across the table and withdrew my labour.
Brian "erimus" took up the task and I took it upon myself to raise from early position with A4, "the ladyboy" (looks good at first glance). An Ace high flop looked ripe for a value c-bet but my one caller decided to raise. Easy fold you might think. Not for me in this mood. I shipped, he snapped, his flopped set saw me off with my tail between my legs.
Fortunately, the cash table opened shortly after and after a slow start I built my £100 up to around £180 before playing out a lovely hand vs two guys who really shouldn"t be allowed out.
Villain 1 sat with £40 and built that to around £200 in no time at all. First by calling a small raise pf with 10 6 and catching trips.
Second by calling £19 (on a .25/.50 table remember) with 9 4 off.
The flop was 345 and somehow he and the original raiser get it all in for another £80 or so. 8 turn, J river and the orig raiser shows 22, and that pair of fours is good.
Villain 2 has just chipped up with a set over a flopped two pair and a flush versus a flopped set. A flush that he called a large bet to hit on the turn... I sense value.
Now, I call a small pf raise from the BB with K9dd and the flop turn and river are dealt without further activity. There"s £15 in the pot and the board reads 8 9 J 10 Q..... :)
I lead for £15
Folds to Villain 1, he calls
Villain 2 makes it £30
I figure one or both may have the K, but it seems a shame to not ask the question in an appropriate way so I make it £75
Both call.
I win the lot. V1 had Q3, V2 didn"t show, but the dealer reckoned he saw a 10?
Somedays it"s better to be lucky than good.
Tomorrow sees a mini-invasion of Yarm and the home game. I"m looking forward to crossing swords with Ger again and to sharing the banter. I suspect I should also be looking forward to an early seat on the cash table.
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