well done
would love an idea of how you found it as and when you get a chance.
Yes, a little write-up about the experience as a whole. I'm not particularly interested in "how much", more "how was it?" & what Mrs Goulder thought of it all.
Sorry I've take so long to reply. I stay logged out of blonde because when logged in it honestly takes 10-20 seconds to load every page, whereas its instant when logged out.
re tipping: in stream games, generally winners tip at the end (they all did) losers don't.
It was an amazing and exhilarating experience - I absolutely loved it - what a buzz. I knew about it for many months before so I prepared well, watched live streams, talked to friends, had a strategy going in - which is something I've never done before with a cash game. It felt a bit like playing a final table - tough to sleep the night before. Wake up raring to go, struggling to eat a full meal, butterflies etc. And in every pot your heart is racing.
That first hand where it's 100/200/500 and you open to £1500 with 98 suited and think woahhhh - this is big game! Of course I didn't have 100% of myself, but I had an amount where I'd qualify it as a "shot".
I had thought so much about every kind of tough spot that could come up - how I would react if I had Michael or Sam on my left 3betting me a lot, how I would construct my ranges preflop in various potential coups, watched hours of live streams to get better reads- but at the end of the day it was one session of poker - about 200 hands - and almost nothing came up that I'd prepared for. No tough river spot where I was trying to get a read, I wasn't put in a difficult situation all night really, just because of the way the cards fell.
I could've got myself in some tough spots if I'd had a more aggressive preflop strategy (I flatted AK twice in potential 3 and 4bet spots) but I don't think bloating pots out of position 500-600bb deep vs excellent players is very good, especially when it might force a weaker player out of the pot.
I think my toughest situation I was in was the hand pads alluded to, where I rivered a straight in a cold 4bet pot with 88 and checked it back on the 9TJ47 board with 3 clubs. I think Sams range is AQ+, QQ+, a very low amount of flushes and straights and the odd hand like AJ or QTs that he has cold 4bet pre and check/called the flop. Of these hands, I can't see him ever calling the river. So my decision is to bet and call a raise or just check and win the pot. And this is maybe where the stakes were so high that I took a slightly too cautious route. And also, this is where Sam's confidence and experience comes into his favour. I think Sam wouldn't think twice about check jamming any hand with
or
and that makes him a really tough opponent. I said this to lildave after the game, if it was a 5/10 game I'd just bet and call, but when its £200k I don't mind nitting it up slightly
Even Michael, who's about as fearless a 21 year old as you could meet, even he turned down a "+EV jam" because it wouldn't cost him £250k to "win £10k in EV" and that was too much to risk for his bankroll (The AK vs AA hand vs Sam). It's basic kelly criterion but doesn't feel great at the time because you start to question yourself. I've had reservations for each new stake level and it's the same everytime - all it takes is practice and you become used to it. I remember when I moved up to 2/5 from 1/2 there was a running joke Mitch made where if I ever bet more than £500 I had to have it
Hopefully I'll get to play the next one and the next one and in a year or two I'll be the one putting people in coffins for 200 bags
#lovethegame
Author