Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[boldie]

I thought the cult had to adhere to these wise words. I have immediately put on trousers a blazer, my best cravat and a silk tie.

That's better. Though I counsel against a cravat AND a tie. Cravat's are for informal occasions - poker & the like.

Don't forget the shoes - shiny - but Brogues are acceptable. On a Friday. If they are black.

TJ, what does one wear when partaking in a meal at a fine Indian restaurant?

One does not dine at Indian Restaurants. Foreign food sucks. I have never set foot in an Indian Restaurant in my entrire life, & never shall.

You are sadly missing out on some of the finest cuisine in the world.  I'm quite sure you haven't tried Japanese food either?  Such a shame.

Yeah imagine never having been in an Indian restaurant, the whole thought of it is bringing me out in a cold sweat.

I'm with TJ on this one. Imagine all these foreigners coming over to our beautiful country, trying to feed us with their fancy food! I bet ya they don't even deep fry anything! As if our beautiful British food (like Chicken in a basket) can be competed with! We built an empire on British food! We gave all these countries a decent political system, the magna carta, a beautifull monarch and cricket!,...And how do they repay us?...By trying to replace our beautiful fish and Chips (Surely a GREAT British institution!!) WITH CURRY?..Surely not!
Back to the colonies with that entire lot of restaurant owners...and take your herbs with you!...We don't need herbs! SALT and VINEGAR, that is all we require!

God save The Queen!

[Laxie]

I thought the cult had to adhere to these wise words. I have immediately put on trousers a blazer, my best cravat and a silk tie.

That's better. Though I counsel against a cravat AND a tie. Cravat's are for informal occasions - poker & the like.

Don't forget the shoes - shiny - but Brogues are acceptable. On a Friday. If they are black.

TJ, what does one wear when partaking in a meal at a fine Indian restaurant?

One does not dine at Indian Restaurants. Foreign food sucks. I have never set foot in an Indian Restaurant in my entrire life, & never shall.

You are sadly missing out on some of the finest cuisine in the world.  I'm quite sure you haven't tried Japanese food either?  Such a shame.

Yeah imagine never having been in an Indian restaurant, the whole thought of it is bringing me out in a cold sweat.

I'm with TJ on this one. Imagine all these foreigners coming over to our beautiful country, trying to feed us with their fancy food! I bet ya they don't even deep fry anything! As if our beautiful British food (like Chicken in a basket) can be competed with! We built an empire on British food! We gave all these countries a decent political system, the magna carta, a beautifull monarch and cricket!,...And how do they repay us?...By trying to replace our beautiful fish and Chips (Surely a GREAT British institution!!) WITH CURRY?..Surely not!
Back to the colonies with that entire lot of restaurant owners...and take your herbs with you!...We don't need herbs! SALT and VINEGAR, that is all we require!

God save The Queen!

...............said the Dutchman   

[Josedinho]

...God save The Queen!

Only 2 months till koninginnedag

[boldie]

...God save The Queen!

Only 2 months till koninginnedag

Everyday is koninginne dag in my heart

[tikay]

OK, back to that Blackpool Report, & I've lost the continuity now - a mistake to stop halfway through.

To recap, played & worked all week, played all night Friday, drove home (2 hours), 3 hours kip, then 3 hours to Blackpool for a lovely 15k chipper, knowing I had to get to London on Sunday night to stand up for 4 hours & do a 3 hour Live Show. My kind of Tourney, I can't fail to run deep in this, but I need to, to justify such a daft itinerary.

I donked off 75% of my stack with 3-2 to a Newbie early doors, doubled back up with Jacks, again with quads, & again with a weirdly played 10 flush in which my oppo was drawing dead with a card to come.

So, now comes the tricky part. I am double average, but I play a deep stack as bad as anyone on earth, my dancing shoes are Doc Martens. What to do?

Well, bad news beckoned, fate intervened, because I got a Table move, one I did not want, at least I had my opening Table sussed, & apart from Zippy & Brian, who both had my measure, nobody else had the game to cause me problems. Except one person, the player I fear most, the player who more often than not busted me - me.

The new Table was a bit of a mystery to me, & me to them, Simon Zach apart, & SZ is more than handy, & I planned to avoid him if I could, as long as I could. Which was a bit awkward, because I spent three orbits on that Table, & SZ played every single hand. You read all this tosh in books & watch instructional videos - "assess your oppos range". Yeah, right, try assessing SZ's range. His range is any two to any two, he has plenty of chips, & he don't lie down too easily. Ho-hum.

But he did get involved in a really odd situation......

[kinboshi]

You read all this tosh in books & watch instructional videos - "assess your oppos range".

How do you know if you don't read any poker books?

[jakally]

You read all this tosh in books & watch instructional videos - "assess your oppos range".

How do you know if you don't read any poker books?

'Yeah, right, try assessing SZ's range. His range is any two to any two'

IMO you were pretty accurate with his range...........WP.

[tikay]

Simon Zach (SZ) is involved in a Pot with a guy wearing a shirt with the logo "The Cumbrian", I seem to know him from somewhere, & I think he got involved in a forum skirmish a few years back, a case of mistaken identity, not his fault IIRC.

Anyway, Mr Cumbrian Raises it up Pre, SZ calls, inevitably.

There's some betting down the streets, SZ calling each time, but it goes check check on the end.

Now we sense something odd - neither player wants to turn their hand over. Bag of poo v bag of spanners?

We wait, they eye each other up. SZ has terrific table personna, & reminds me of Richard Ashby - Baseball Cap pulled right down over eyes, face shrouded by his hands, staring down, always down, hunched up, there's nothing to see.

They fence for a few more seconds, then the silence is broken. (The Board is raggy-taggy Q high, & the flop was 3-4-x).

"Queen?" says SZ.

"Ace High" says Cumbrian, quickly mucking his cards - i.e., placing them on the table, near but not in the muck, face down.

And I know INSTANTLY what's gone off here. Simon had said "Queen?" not "Queen" - note the subtle difference, obvious in writing, but not so obvious verbally, especially with Howard Plant & Ariston chuntering away as per in the background, & the bloody PA broadcasting a football commentary at max volume. Why on EARTH do we have to listen to a bleeding football commentary when we are playing poker ffs?

So, the Dealer makes to shove the Pot SZ's way, but someone says "hold up, he has to show". "But he's mucked" says SZ, but the Dealer ain't buying that, & SZ knows he has to show. He turns over 6-5, for 6 high.......

Now, Cumbrian makes to retrieve his (mucked) hand, "it's not touched the muck" he correctly states.

"You said you had the queen" he protests.

"No, I said "queen?" SZ accurately responds.

Nobody did anything wrong, or even slightly moody, it was just one of those genuine misunderstandings, but I imagine Cumbrian was pretty cross - with himself - for mucking & not waiting to see SZ's holding.

The difference a question mark can make to the construction of a sentence, eh?

[TightEnd]

even though Cumbrian had not officially mucked (cards had not touched any other) the pot was awarded to Simon?

this was a TD ruling?

[77dave]

At a recent Luton festival is was on a table with El Blondie  there were 2 limpers on his bb  he has 2 4 off  flop comes j 3 5  all check  turn comes a 10 and matey1 bets with kq matey 2 calls with kq El Blondie calls river is an 8 bringing the flush.

 Dave slams his 4 high down on the table and shouts NUTS  both the mateys  instamuck  Dave wins the pot with 4 high

Matey1 laughs   Matey 2 asks for a ruling

[77dave]

even though Cumbrian had not officially mucked (cards had not touched any other) the pot was awarded to Simon?

this was a TD ruling?

Cards dont have to touch the muck to be mucked

if the dealer takes your intention as to muck this is good enough

[TightEnd]

even though Cumbrian had not officially mucked (cards had not touched any other) the pot was awarded to Simon?

this was a TD ruling?

Cards dont have to touch the muck to be mucked

if the dealer takes your intention as to muck this is good enough

oh ok, I've learned something new then!

[tikay]

So, 3 orbits of watching on this Table, then we break down to two Tables, & frankly, I'm relieved to move. SZ is way too strong for me to tangle with at this stage, he'll wait until later.

He can bust me then, but it'll be me that dictates the play, not him, I much prefer to lead than to call. He'll still get me, mind, unless I get lucky, or someone else busts him for me. A problem for later, not now. One thing at a time, eh?

My new Table has Zippy's young Bro to my immediate left. Shit. He sounds EXACTLY like Zippy, you'd think it was an echo, but physically, he's much smaller, slight in build, shorter, younger & very much more handsome, under the trademark beardy thing. Great, great, game, too.

Am I gonna be plagued by Family Zippy all afternoon?

My stack has shrunk a bit, a nadge sub-average, but still fine. I had made a few "must-calls" against shorties, I thought they were supposed to shove with crap, but they all had proper grown-up hands, & my 3-1 shots never hit. I'm trying to come to terms with the Thewy-Style Hero Calls, & I've realised that if they ( my Heroic Calling Hands) are 3/1 dogs, you gotta make 4 of them to allow the Maths to work it's wonders. It just ain't my game, & I'm gonna revert to blank chamber leading rather than Hero Calling in future.

So, I decide to change gear on my new table, & right now.

What better time to project (false) image on a new Table then on my first hand?

Find the first blank late position, don't look at my cards, & make a proper Raise.

Amazing how quickly I'd forgotten that 3-2 debacle.
 
It got to me, Blinds 1k - 2k, & I make it 7k. "RAISE" I say, nice & confident, with barely a quiver in my voice.

Mini-Zipp insta-calls. Jeez.......

While I'm absorbing this news, about as welcome as a mouthful of gumboils, it gets worse - BB shoves!

Now I gotta look at what I got.

Q diamonds. Nice.

S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E.

Two of Diamonds. Not nice.

Bollox.

Now what you gonna do donkeybrain?

OK one thing at a time.

"How much is it?" I ask Mr Dealer Man.

Another 11k. So, 1k + 2k + 7k + 7k + 7k + 11k = 35k, & it's 11k more to me. Not good. But it'd be OK if Mini-Zipp calls too. Supposing he Raises behind me? Maybe I should shove here?

How about doing something sensible for once - like Passing?

Fat chance, I feel committed now, & I flat call, wimpish as ever, praying Mini-Zipp does not Raise - how daft would I feel if he did that now?

Mini-Zipp flat calls, phew.

Come on Dealer, I Love You.

It comes down all red, & I squint to see, are they hearts or diamonds? Hearts I think. Bollox, probably.

How did I get myself in this bloody spot?

Anyway, Mini-Zipp is now Maxi-Zipp, as he had A-J hearts, for the flopped absolutes, & I'm down to 14k.

Time to buy my dog & disappear over the hill.

To tell the truth, I still don't know what the correct play was after the BB shoved. But I drill down deeper to try & find the original error, which is usually "I was playing too shallow", but this time, well, I just can't explain the Q-2 Raise really. But that was the error, not the subsequnt frantic shovelling of my ever-deepening hole. I just can't play a decent stack. Or an indecent stack, come to that.

The BB shove, by the bye, was a right howler, he had A-7, & it was nigh on certain he'd get two callers. But not as big a howler as my Q-2 affair.

[Longy]

Its likely to be the right call, Tikay i would have to know stack size etc but you are getting over 3 to 1 straight away and most likely 4 to 1 when mini-zippy overcalls as well.

Also you have a dry side pot situation which gives you some protection as your unlikely to be bet off the best hand.

I really don't like this blind raising malarky unless the situation dictates shoving any two, which is sometimes the case. You are just handicapping yourself.

As for the a7 shove it may not be the worst play in the world given that sometimes in these situation a7 plays well against a loose goosey open raise and a flat call. Alas this isn't the case with you raising, unless you mind it blindingly (see the pun hahaha) obvious what was going on.

[tikay]

And so, I'm left withn the tattered remnants of my once double ave stack, & I've donked it off, which makes it so much worse. But it's OK, I have Ariston to my immediate right, & we still have that £20 LL, & I've never lost one of them, they are my Pension.

And the very next hand, I find Q-Q, my best hand of the day. (My hands had been, in 9 hours, JJ, JJ, & AK).

Anyway, I get action from the BB, he has A-T I can 2xup straight away here, & the flop comes safe safe safe.

The Turn comes the Ten though, & Ariston whispers - he can whisper, you know - "oh no, not the old runner-runner kick in the goolies". And he was not wrong, thge A rivered, & that was that. It's the beauty of no-limit, cruise all day, & then wham, it's all over in a flash. My 2-2 & my 10-3 did me great, my Q-Q busted me. Well, actually, my Q-2 busted me.

Wasted opportunity I think, as I weave my way out of Blackpool at 2am, through countless sets of lights, clutching not one, but two Parking Tickets, &  bruised ego.

I'm soon on the M56(?), & it's only 10 minutes to the M6, then M61, M62, M1 & home by 4.45am with any luck. Until I find the M6 Southbound Entry is shut, & get diverted through Preston Town Centre. I did a 45 minute Tour of Preston, & I hope I never set eyes on it again.

But I spent £200 (plus £120 on two Parking Tickets), & to be honest, I got so much value from that £200, I can't tell ya. The battle that rages in my mind in these comps - whilst maintaining  cool & relaxed demeanour externll - just fascinates me, & it's all about handling these crises.  What incredible value there is to be had if we could but see it.

I shall miss those internal battles when the day comes to hang up my misreads.