blonde poker forum

As a mark of respect for Tikays recent efforts I feel it only fair the creative blondites own up to the biggest chipstacks they have blown. My biggest was when I had just shy of 2million in a rebuy affair on stars with 6 left (around 70% of the chips in play) and managed to finish 6th after having aces cracked and going on tilt. Luckily I had brokered a favourable deal just prior to this but we were still playing for an extra 2k for 1st place. Come on now guys own up (I am sure Julian, Greg and atit bradley must have a few tales).

My final hand in this comp was 24off which I bet every street to represent the AKxxx board. My opponent had AA and was obviously to busy trying to work out what I had to fold lol

About 70k on Friday at Sheffield with 4 tables, left, average at the time 18k. Exited 21st. And not ONE bad beat.......

Just how creative did you get abe? Need to know the worst play you made lol- this is a form of free therapy mate......." Hello My names tony and I'm an atit merchant". Welcome to the group sir.

90,000 of 170,000 chips in play in a small tournament, four left...two very short stacks, another with 70 or so

I raise with 10,10, get flat caled by second chip leader to my left

flop A Q 6, marvellous. Big bet representing A

called

turn 10...bingo......bet out, flat called

river 6...bingo squared, I've got a boat...bet, raise, reraise, oh wtf....

He's got AA and I've represented the A into a set of them, marvellous

from chip leader to out the door in two minutes
 

The worst two?

3-3 in the BB, little Raise by Mr Colclough, I call, he aint nicking MY BB.

Flop was 8-8-7 - I am calling here to represent the 8, & anyway, I know he's got naff all - another 8 on the turn - oops, dodgy representing the 8 now, but I fancy my 3-3 is still good - 5 on the river - I am obliged to call Dave's 8k bet into a 30k pot by now, but it's OK, he's at it for sure. He shows AA. As Dave said after, once he'd finished counting my chips, & giggling uncontrollably, I shoulda bet the flop to see where I was. TOO PASSIVE.

Family pot, with blinds at 1k-2k, me in SB with T-3 off. Flop comes T-8-5, two clubs. Jim Reid is on button, & has been nicking wholesale, as has Alan McLean, & I'm getting a bit miffed. We all check to Jim on the Button, my plan is to snap him off when he does his steal routine. He bets 8k, yup, got him, I move all-in for 30k more. Now, put yourself in Jim's shoes.

Am I betting my flush draw?

Am I protecting my set agaqinst the flush draw?

Am I protecting 2 pair against the flush draw?

Am I protecting my Big Ten?

It's IMPOSSIBLE for him to call me, he only has, maybe, 40k, so it's most of his stack.

So he calls, & shows T-J. Thats Ten with a J kicker.

I rate that as either the worst play of all time by me, or an incredible call by him - an amazing call, & I do NOT mean that in an ironic way. Maybe both.

He admitted afterwards he put me on the flush draw. Willie Tann later said to Jim that he'd made a bad call, I COULD have had a monster.

Jim'a a special friend of mine, I love the guy. WHAT a call.

And here's a beauty, where I actually won the hand, but maybe left a lot of chips behind. Another family pot.

I limp with A-3 suited, clubs. Flop is KQJ, turn is the T, and there are two clubs. So I have the nut straight, & the nut flush draw. Early pos makes it 1k, three others limp, it gets to me. I think, at LEAST one of these limpers must have an A, possibly 2. So there could be three of us sat with the nut straight, but I am freerolling with the nut flush draw. Here's a GREAT idea, why not move all-in? Anyone with the A has to call, or with 2 clubs, & I'm in Freeroll City. They all pass to the last guy who dwells for 5 minutes, before passing, showing 8-9, the "ugly" straight, BUT, it was 8-9 of clubs.......So if I just call the turn, and a club had rivered...................

Once everyone had stopped laughing, I tried to explain my logic, but they were not wearing it. Simon Zach was actually very helpful, & explained to me carefully after where I had boobed. I'm STILL not convinced it was a bad play - if someone had an A - surely a likely scenario - they'd HAVE to call. That's my prob see - I won't accept I'm wrong, when I clearly am. (NOT.....)

i see the logic but isn't hindsight a wonderful thing eh?
if someone did have the ace and you hit the flush it would have been inspired, best move ever etc.
Hindsight dictates a small raise but as you say anyone with an ace HAS to call.
Ian

I actually think the TJ call is not inspired it was lunacy. You could have flopped anything from the blind, 2 pair small set and even against a flush draw with a couple of overcards he isnt in that good shape. I don't think it was really a bad play but he got your chips. The A high staight with nut flush draw is well thought out but (and it is a big but) it is important that someone has an ace. Just on the basic maths there are 3 aces left in the deck which one of your opponents could hold- had there been any preflop action? was there any action on the flop? This isnt an internet comp so the odds on somebody having a rag ace are far less likely in this type of event imo. A small reraise would have been in order here to maybe trap in the other flush draw/2 pair type hands (IMO). Remember poker is a game of oppinions and there is no absolute correct way to play/wrong way to play.

the other thing is you showed your hand, i like elblondies thinking here that whenever you show your cards you are giving information away so don't.
Maybe the J10 caller wouldn't if you hadn't shown out previously?
Ian

9 handed SNG on PokerStars, 1st wins seat in $215 Sunday nighter and second gets small amount of cash. 13500 chips in play, me 13000 matey boy 500. 5 minutes later I'm out 2nd.. >:(

Best (or worst) online.

Last 3 of a comp i have 260k 2nd has 26k 3rd has 5k. I am in the BB with the 5k stack in the SB and i fold to his all in on 1.6k-3.2k. My reasoning was i wanted to keep him for longer so the 26k would keep folding to my bets and i would be assured of first.

Needles to say i eneded up coming 3rd with the 5k stack winning! It did involve a terrible run of hands vs the 2nd guy where i lost 4 hands to him all in pre flop with dominating hands (AK vs AQ) etc.


live, i would have to go for the first event at luton. With 20% of the chips in play and 12 players left i thought i would finally break my curse (i always seem to get down to the last 2/3 tables in festivals and then mess it up/get outdrawn) so surely the correct play is to sit back and make the occasional blind steal.

Well that would be boring, so i raised it to 8k on 1.5-3 with QJ and when i was check raised to 20k on the AAQ flop i figured i could push my opponent off a small ace, so naturally i pushed back all in. He decided to call and show me A6. Then next hand i raised mr Tann all in with AT to see his AQ. OOPS!

Thats what I wanted to see- very creative leaving the shortstack in so you could attack the other man...surely the shortstack cant do any damage with such a small stack anyway lol.

well i think i've had too many to remember... a couple last week in luton but nothing spectaculor!

best in a decent size comp was the £150pot limit at blackpool at the last festival, i'm second in chips by a margin and latif is the only one a head of me... not by much!

i raise with kj and latif takes an age to call... flop comes q 10 4 two clubs, latif thinks for a whileand bets the pot, i think he must be atit and reraise him instantly then he says allin before i can get my bet in... i call he has a set of queens! no help and i'm out 7th, i could have passed my way to top3 without thinking. but i could'nt sit still!

think that was one of my worst but i do it quite regulary so they kind of blur into one lol!

one of the worst i have seen was rolands in the orleans... he had so many chips and was miles a head of the pack... i was second and was miles away till he gifted m a full double up!

thanks for the bok ariston by the way it has worked lol!

At-iT

30k 4 handed from a 20player mtt on ladbrokes i think it was, you know the scenario 8am no sleep and the comp draggin on just got bored and went on the rampage winning with crap and losing massive with big hands finished 3rd and was fuming had to go play heads up to get it outta my sytem lol

Tikay,

Don't beat yourself up about those plays.

The call against DC was debatable but probably ok. It's likely he was winning but the pot was so big you virtually had to call on the river. You probably should have check raised the flop and that would have saved you chips.... But, poker is a game of mistakes. We all make 'em. Even DC.

And the move against Jim was excellent. He flat out made a great call. One I doubt I could have made in similar spot. As I said earlier he played great in the final and probably deserved to win.

I didn't play with you long on Friday, but it was the best I've ever seen you play. The breaks didn't go with you thats all.

Chin up, I have lost much better positions in much bigger tournaments than that and I've lived to tell the tale.

Whats a big stack?
 ;)
 ;)
and what good is blowing on it? - sorry i'm a begginner

Wow, thank you Keith. Knowing you as I do, I just know you would not make those comments unless you meant them.

At the risk of boring other readers, I must comment on your analysis.

For the first 4 hours on Friday, I think I played better than I ever have. Big calls - ususally a problem for me - I made plenty, & was aggressive and brave, "no fear". Perhaps I had an adrenelin rush because of it, but when I got moved to Dave Colclough's table the wheels came off big style. Dave harbours the view that I play too many hands. I think he's wrong. But when I arrived at his table, a weird thing happened. We were 7 handed, & I kept getting hands which, in my opinion, were genuine raising hands in late position on a short-handed table. A-J, A-Q, KQ, A-T, one after the other. I kept raising, someone always found (& usually showed) a  monster. Raise-Pass, Raise-Pass, Raise-Pass. And I can feel Dave looking at me & thinking "what on earth are you doing Tony, trying to impress me, or what?". I was not prepared to risk my entire stack on a coin-flip, so I had to keep putting hands down.

Dave & I don't talk poker play much - in poker terms he is a hero as far as I am concerned, but the world & his wife are forever bugging him with flop stories & poker questions, so I don't talk about my poker with him much at all, it just would not be fair on a man I care a great deal for. But, to be honest, it would not be natural if I did not try to impress him, in my own little way, on the odd occasions we meet at the table.

He was raising an awful lot - so much so, he commented he had received more great hands in this one comp than the whole of his Vegas adventure this year.

I am known to be a weak player, & Dave knows that. So when he mini-raised my blind, & I had 3-3, I resolved to defend. I just decided he had a big A, and I was prepared to back my judgement all the way, something rare for me. Nothing on the board suggested to me he had hit his undercard, & I kept calling. The call on the River was, in my view, mandatory. He would have bet the same with nothing. I was wrong - spectacularly so - he had the Aces, & had milked me every yard of the way. I have never felt so stupid at a poker table in my life, & I must confess, my head was completely "gone". Made a muppet play in front of - against in fact - my business partner, friend, & poker hero. How awful was that? Once the table had stopped falling about with mirth, Dave suggested, Yes, I DID have to call the River bet, pot odds etc, but my mistake was not betting the flop, to see where I was. He was right, of course.

And Jim Reid's call against me? Awesome, just awesome. I THINK I made a good and brave move, and he misread the position as it turned out - he thought I was fluushing, whereas I was trying to represent a set or 2 pair & protecting them against a flush. Jim's a great friend of mine, & my respect for him is enormous.

And I guess you heard about my "odd" play when I turrned the nuts with A-3 of clubs, and we had an K-Q-J-T situation (2 clubs) on the turn. I massively overbet, on the belief that at least ONE of my oppos MUST have an A & would be obliged to call, giving me a lovely freeroll. None of them had an A, but one guy was forced to pass his ugly (8-9) straight - 8-9 of clubs, dammit!

Oh well, we live & learn. It's back to grinding for me I think...... Is it heck - I intend to persevere with this more aggressive game. Chips are on offer lads.

I really do appreciate your kind words Keith, & I feel slightly better for hearing them from you of all people.

I've been giving the first hand in particular some thought and the more I think about it the more I like a check raise.

DC is certain to bet this flop whatever he holds. And the check raise looks very powerful especially given the common perception of the way you play.. Whatever he's got he must fear the 8. And if he calls a big move on the turn will almost certainly win you the pot... Unless the turn card is the 8 when you should check-fold to DC's bet.

I LOVE the A3 move. You are very unlucky to find noone with an ace. In fact it is far more likely one or two have aces than a player has a hand like 89c where a smaller raise would have much better.

In fact, the allin move is so good here, it is one of those very rare occasions where someone with the nuts would almost certainly be correct to fold. How often is that the case in Hold'em? A super play and very unlucky not to succeed.

The 33 v AA. Well, I did have in mind representing the paired 8's, but when the third eight hit the turn, I thought "he ain't gonna buy THAT" any more. We can't gloss over this one, it was just giddam awful play. But I could & should have played it less passively.

Your other comments? I'm speechless, coming from you, that's praise indeed. OK, forget the grinding, it's all-out attack from now.

But WTF does "the common perception of how you play" mean........? DON'T ANSWER, PURLEASE.......

Tikay, I agree 100% with The Camel and I play that hand exactly the same way as you did with the A-3c.

In response to the original post, I had 17k at the end of a £20 rebuy and I was out about 30 mins after the end of the rebuy period!

Best (worst!?) play was trying to move riverdave off 2 pair when i had a 7 high flush (7-4s) draw only cost me 12,000 with the blinds at 100/200!!!

Heads up I lost to a guy who had one big blind left as well, that was a good one.

Oh and out of interest where was the raise from DC when you had 33, any chance of a reraise preflop??

JP,

I was in the BB - which had been under siege for an hour from the world & his wife, & Dave was in mid-position. If I had Re-Raised Pre-flop, well, i am done with the hand if Dave re-pops, but if he smooth calls my RR, I am back in the poo. Either way, I probably lose less than I actually did.

Are you on drugs Keith ? He check raises me and I pass Aces? I hadn't seen them for 3 weeks! He could have turned an 8 over and I would have still called. the poker gods need to know that when they send 'em my way, I'll die with 'em before I abandon 'em.
Actually Tony should never have called the pre flop raise with 33. So what if I am stealing? He has 5 times the average stack. He doesn't need to take risks and should be sat on that fence like he normally does. Stop trying to make him feel better. He has to suffer to learn. He got carried away just like a kid with a new toy...'nuff said.
 :-*
 

Todays little lesson comes curtesy of a Tuesday nights £20 Pot Limit re-buy tournament at the Riverboat at the beginning of this month...

I was sitting pretty, roughly 50,000 in chips, 2nd or 1st chip leader (not sure what the guy had on the other table), two tables remain with less than twenty entrants running. I had been saying to myself, "don't play any more hands". The guy sitting next to me, one of the many new faces, also commented on my chip stack, and I made the same comment to him. "I don't need to play a hand".

On the table with me was another young chap who had a similar amount of chips. Subconsiously I think I was marking them as mine.

With blinds of 500-1000, I am dealt a :ts::jh: in BB. Early (the young chap above) makes it 2000 to go. Everyone folds round to me, and I call the 1000, The very next hand after saying to myself "no more hands"! UTG calls the extra 1000 and we see a flop.

:js::8c::2s:

I make it 5,000 to go. UTG folds, and I am re-raised for another 5,000, which I call. Very bad call on my part here, he could have had J with a higher kicker, or a spade flush draw. I don't have him for two pair, hes only been raising with cards, but I don't have him for a higher pair.

:5c:

I open with 10,000 and after a very long think and with the cards hovering above the line ready to be dropped, he eventaully calls.

:2c:

I push enough chips for him to be all in, and he calls. STUPID thing to do. The backdoor flush was out there, if he hasn't got it he's going to check, maybe I was trying to represent, but he's calling no matter what anyway. He laughs to himself, turning over :jc::tc: and he says "Wow, split pot after all that". He didn't realised he'd hit the backdoor flush. He was prompty corrected and all those chips where pushed in his direction.

My biggest mistake was calling the initial extra 5,000. He had raised on the pre-flop, and now he was back raising me. He was demonstrating strength, and I should have been a lot more wary than I had been. I had top pair, but he could just have easily made two pair (I correctly didn't think he had), or more likely had a jack with a higher kicker.

I eventually finished 10th that night, gutted of course. But my lesson is that when I say to myself "Don't play a hand, I'm happy with what I've got", I should actually mean it! And if I do try to play, do it with better than J10 :D

Not call your raise with 33???? And you think I'm on drugs????

Let's go to a parallel universe where the third 8 doesn't appear on the turn.

Tony check raises you on the flop and then moves in on the turn. Give him a little bit of pain relief and tell him you would have passed. I thought you were a nice guy....

Well here's a strange thing. Mr Steal/Bully/Raise Camel tries to make me feel better, & just when I start to think maybe it was not so bad after all, His Wonderfulness, Poker's so called Mr Nice Guy, chimes in with "dont make him feel better, make him suffer".

Actually he softened up a bit in a pirvate e-mail - he just said "you lost the plot. Who do you think you are, Phil Ivey?.

If the rest of the guys don't mind (too bad if they do....) lets take this a step further.

I make semi final after semi final, & exit somewhere between 8th & 12th. Scores of times. Why? Because I tend to "freeze" mid-comp. So when I got the big stack at Sheffield, Thewy & Willie told me "keep playing, USE those chips". So I tried to. I KNOW Keith would keep his foot to the floor.

But when Dave & I mentioned the affair, he said "forget the individual plays. You should have just sat quietly. Do NOT get involved. You did not need need to. Stick the fence up your arse". And I took that as good advice, after the event. But it's hard to pass AQ on the Button when you have a mountain of chips on a short-handed table, or just roll over when you hold a small PP in the blinds & someone attacks your blind.

I guess the answer is somewhere between. Really Dave is right, I should have nutted up, but thats the VERY problem I have been trying to solve. Would Dave pass AQ on the button on a 7 handed table if caked up? Don't know. Would Camel? NO CHANCE!

Anyway, I took my new game to Notts last night (Monday) & bliitzed the Final table, it was men against boys, I walked it. luverly.