Walsall report

[Dingdell]

As requested by Tikay here is my report on the Walsall weekend.
 
Firstly thank you to all my backers who were kind enough to stump up some cash for me to play in the GUKPT summer series, although my result was less than satisfying cash wise I know that I played almost entirely at my best and without any cards at all the entire 2 days i made it through to the last 3 tables.
 
At the begining.......When I started playing poker 4 years ago i was torn between luck and skill and like a typical female player when they start out (unless your name in Annette)  i used to play like a real girl and wait for premium hands.
 
This has sometimes worked and playing premium hands certainly helps but when i was card dead i would ante away until my last push when i was so low stacked that even the guys who had been knocked out before me had enough chips to call my all in.
 
In the past, playing a few deep stacks and trying a few bluffs (ohmigod he might call me and i have nothing running through my mind) I got most of my bluffs through. Amazing. Next I moved onto the reraise. This was more daunting as i was risking more chips and as a conservative player I didn't want to go below my starting stack let alone risk any chips unless I had the stone cold nuts. So reraise I did,but just every time I had a set of aces, nut flush or a house, nothing below that would ever make it, top 2 pair? No never - I was a player who couldn't/didn't play poker.
 
As time went on I realised that I was being outplayed on every flop, I would flat call a raise out of position, check the flop and fold to the bet. And yet I still thought I was playing poker. To rectify this situation I stopped flat calling any raises, to avoid a difficult situation I would fold instead. And yet I still thought I was playing poker.
 
And then the learning really started. DTD opened and the structure meant i could play a lot of poker for my money. I started to see a lot of people making a lot of moves and I was stunned at how much was going on at the table. The Notts players certainly know how to bluff and reraise with air and are proud to show their hands, so i got a whole lot of education by just being at the table. Added to that the tuition I got from Paul Jackson (yes for those of you who have not seen me kneeling in front of an effigy of Paul he is one of my poker heros) and i felt braver to face the world of poker and join in.
 
So where for love of the poker god does this fit into Walsall i hear you crying - if you are still reading that is....
 
Over the past 6 months I have been trying out a new version of the game called poker, it includes bluffs, rebluffs, stone cold nuts, creative calls and pre flop raises with less than premium hands - although the regulars at Luton may tell you I was doing that one anyway.
 
A few deepstacks at DTD later, going deep in the £1000 and Sky tourney and I know I am playing poker. I'm getting things through, I'm getting respect at the table and I'm learning that putting Mo Muse on a hand is nigh on impossible, but I can play back at him. Players are helpful, telling me afterwards where I could have improved and for a game that has the emphasis on having the competitive edge it is great that they are so informative! This is all getting stored in the poker playing section of my head to be used next time.
 
Everything they tell me tells me something about them and their play and it's all stored away. I may not be able to operate a lift correctly sometimes but I can remember poker info - it's much more important.
 
So the week before Walsall I am bereft - all my favourite people are off to Vegas, Snatty is squeeling like a teenage girl off on her first date as he plans his satellite fest and tells me excitedly about his venetian suite. The Shrewdies are living it up by the pool and Tikay is awol as he plans a gruelling schedule of playing, reporting, people spotting and train spotting, with a gap for sleeping between hands and while waiting for any form of transportation. Yet to see pics of him sleeping while waiting for a cab but I'm sure they are on the way.
 
So egged on by an awol blonde I put up a staking thread and joy of joys people are kind enough to stake me. Happy days.
 
So armed with Gus Hansens book and a day of watching poker tells on You tube I get ready for the game.
 
Toenails painted? Yes
Legs done? Yes
Bags packed? Yes
 
I used to be superstitous when playing poker and would wear the same earrings, top etc from my last win but I have gone past that now. So when I got to my car to find the warden giving me a ticket I didn't worry. When I got to the launderette and someone had a go at me i didn't worry. When my last client let me down on Saturday I didn't get concerned.None of these were signs of any impending doom at the tourney. When I got to the Village hotel they told me that despite being told I was booked on the 4th floor, I wasn't as they only have 3 floors. At this point the collective incoveniences of the day started to grate a little but never mind - I've had my toenails painted and I'm here to play poker.
 
The Village hotel is clean, has a pool and when I arrived they had laid out the red carpet for me literally, all the way up from the car park to the entrance to the hotel - very nice - I allowed an engagement party couple to also use it when they arrived - very big of me - and I headed for the pool and sauna to relax before the off. After a swim and a pre game snooze I was ready for poker.
 
Walsall is famous for it's on time starts and it didn't let us down, the start time came and went and we sat and enjoyed a pre match dinner while the staff discussed whether to set out the tables and put the chip stacks out in readiness for the game. The staff there are really great and I think part of the delay was due to the satellite for the game which hadn't finished.
 
Eventually we were off and like one of rookies dogs I came out fast but fell, bluffing away chips like a novice. Damm - as one of my poker buddies said to me today - you can't get away with Gus's moves unless you are Gus. How right he was. Before I slowed down I had gone from 10k to 4k in only a few hands, betting into aces with air, playing wild and fast and generally trying to be Alex Martin or Gus. FAIL.  
 
With my backers on my mind I slowed down and started playing ABC and D poker, mostly ABC but a little of D thrown in for good measure which worked nicely. Simon Trumper came to the table and having raised into his blinds twice he began to bite back a bit. Luckily for me he wasn't in the hand when I tried a ridiculous bluff that got through,but as I looked across at him while I waited for my opponent to fold he had that look on his face that my father had when I used to tell him i was going to my friends to do homework. A resigned 'I'm disappointed and I don't believe you' look. Later on he told me what gave it away for him, thank goodness other players are less studious because what Simon saw was microscopic.
 
I proceeded to play steady, picking my spots and all of a sudden I was up to starting stack again and feeling like I had some messing about chips. With Des Jonas on my table there was a poker diatribe going on between Des and the rest of the table as he talked the players to oblivion. Des had seen me waiting for a payout from the slots of £2k and decided to tell everyone about it and goad me into buying drinks for the table. "I'll buy drinks for the table if you can tell me my name" I replied knowing I was on safe ground. This flumoxed him a bit until the wit known as Dewi sitting in seat 4 piped up with "That shouldn't be a problem as everyone knows your name Tracey". With the triumphant air of the German in the 'Don't tell him Pike' Dads Army scene Des shouted for the waitress and began shouting out the drinks order insisting they order whatever they wanted....
 
Thanks Dewi - hope you enjoyed the Guinness!
 
Tomorrow more on actual poker, pivitol hands of the tourney for me and others and how The Village nearly had a race riot on their hands on Sunday morning...
 
 
 
 
 
 

[taximan007]

Nice write up Tracey. nice result on the slots.

Thank you

[Claw75]

Great post Trace

[MC]

Great post Trace

+1

I did the clothes thing too a couple of years back, I'm not even supersticious but one of those things I guess lol...soon realised superstition in poker is pointless.

[GreekStein]

Good report, I like these even when I'm not one of the stakers.

Out of curiosity, (and you can tell me to mind my own business!) but what made you decide the type of staking you did (i.e 100%)? Did you not want to invest any of your win from the £50 at DTD into a bigger piece of yourself?

Look forward to part 2.

[The_nun]

Great post Tracey.

[vinni]

where is the rest of it ,come on Tracy get your act together lol.
i`m waiting with anticipation here.
top read ,tell us about the race riot.

[Karabiner]

Great report Tracey, looking forward to the next installment.

[Dingdell]

Good report, I like these even when I'm not one of the stakers.

Out of curiosity, (and you can tell me to mind my own business!) but what made you decide the type of staking you did (i.e 100%)? Did you not want to invest any of your win from the £50 at DTD into a bigger piece of yourself?

Look forward to part 2.

The studiouos and thought out answer is; I've never been a great fan of staking - I've staked and have no problem with it but asking for staking is a different thing entirely. To me it's a begging bowl situation and if I let my stakers down I almost want to pay them back!

I would rather give as good a deal as I can to the stakers as they are taking the risk and use the game as a learning tool/experience and hopefully cash too.

My first answer would be; I copied Frans staking request! It seemed fair.

[cia260895]

Great read Tracey

I gave up on the nail polish just didnt work for me...

[Claw75]

To me it's a begging bowl situation and if I let my stakers down I almost want to pay them back!

Try to get out of that mindset Trace.  You're a solid player who is due another big win soon imo.  You're not begging, you have set out a well thought out proposal offering an opportunity for people to have a financial interest in a tournament where you have an edge over the field.   I've bought shares in you before, and that's the reason!  If I had any spare cash at the moment I'd have bought a % of you in Walsall, and if I'm flush next time you're looking for staking, I'll have some then too!

Using the staking boards is a far cry from begging in your case.

[boldie]

Carlsberg don't do tourney reports but if they did...


Top class Ding.

[GreekStein]

To me it's a begging bowl situation and if I let my stakers down I almost want to pay them back!

Try to get out of that mindset Trace.  You're a solid player who is due another big win soon imo.  You're not begging, you have set out a well thought out proposal offering an opportunity for people to have a financial interest in a tournament where you have an edge over the field.   I've bought shares in you before, and that's the reason!  If I had any spare cash at the moment I'd have bought a % of you in Walsall, and if I'm flush next time you're looking for staking, I'll have some then too!

Using the staking boards is a far cry from begging in your case.

I was just curious because you were seemingly running good after a deep finish in the DTD £1k deepstack and then taking down the £50 at DTD for just shy of £2k I would have thought you would have either bought more of yourself in this event than a 100% stake or even just taken a shot and had all your own action.

[Dingdell]

Thanks for the kind comments. I was tempted to buy in for the event but it would have been wrong of me. My thoughts are...

1) Pure bankroll managment - it's still 25% of any potential bank roll if the money I won at DTD went into a poker account. As it is any money won goes into the bank account to keep the bank manager at bay. To give an example of this - on the internet I grind away with £10 PLO sit and goes mainly, I'm not a big player.

2) I'm self employed and dependent on clients coming in to pay me. I have a set amount of outgoings each month both personal but mostly business and there are times where it can be too tight to mention. Summer can be a quiet time for me as the school holidays means people are away, eating more healthily - less carbs and generally don't need to come and see me so often.

3) I run better with a deeper stack game but mainly these are (apart from APAT) bigger buy ins. Had I thought about Walsall earlier I would have tried to satt in with Blue Square but it was all a bit last minute.

4) I'm thinking of playing more at DTD during the week due to the structure - it's an hour from me and I have to factor in fuel and leaving work early - but I seem to run quite well there.

5) I have never not qualified through a satt for the DTD big stack so I will also be concentrating on those. Rather than spend £75 on a game at Luton I'll spend it on satts and see what happens.

6) The problem with limited bankroll is you need to spend it effectively. By spending on satts you play less live games and that can also be a disadvantage. Catch 22!

[MrDickie]

That was great read...thanks. Looking forward to part 2.