Also would like to thank Jakally for flipping the boomswitch! Nice one! So here's a few of the highlights from the month that was. Details may be sketchy, they might also be complete lies if you're PeeJay.
1)These two work like a binary star, great fun making big hands and winning big pots, especially when it's against the same guy! These were both versus Greek Jack, one at the start of the month or possibly very end of December, and one was very recent.
Hand #1
Playing a pretty loose 50/1 game, I recently made queens full versus Jack so he's a little bit on tilt. He told me I got lucky on the river, but from the way the hand played out and from what I know about him I find that very unlikely. This hand has been raised to £6 by Jack, there are three callers, and we're in the small blind with
. I call, the big blind calls, and off we go.
Flop (£36)
I decided to lead out for £23, expecting to get some action on this board, but only Jack calls. Nevermind, that's still good news.
Turn (£82)
Weeeeee! I lead out again and felt like an absolute boss, making it £45. Jack thinks for a moment and just moves the lot in for about £200 total. Erm, call that?! I whipped my hand over and his cards rocketed into the muck. Felt like it couldn't get much better than that, until:
Hand #2
Similar setup, loose 50/1 game but Jack was to my immediate right this time, and I was stuck about £200 the begin the hand. It was raised to £4 pre, a few callers, I call on the button with
and the blinds call.
Flop (£24)
Not often you flop top set with this hand, but nonetheless, here we are. We're probably going to get it in with one of the fishbowls in this game versus a bare five a lot of the time. It was checked round to Jack who makes it £20. I thought for a while and basically couldn't think of many hands he wouldn't get all in here. Probably has an underset, maybe has a bare 5, won't fold top two a lot of the time. I made it £75 and it folds back to Jack who tanks for ages and moves the lot in for £280. I call. Hold one fucking time, or better still...
Turn (£584)
... Pair it up? That ought to do it. He said he had a straight. Again, not entirely convinced. Think he was more likely to have a pair and a draw given his dwell. Either way: weeeeee!!
2)Maybe some of the better players get this feeling a lot, as it's something that's been happening to me a lot more frequently with the decent volume I've been putting in versus regs, but it's still not a feeling I get all that often. Basically being sure of your opponent's hole cards. Assigning them a capped range of what is almost certainly only one hand. This one was pretty obvious in my opinion, but still felt pretty good.
There were a couple of fish at the table that had bust out of the deepstack, and one or two decent players but nobody extraordinary and this particular fishbowl was sat pretty deep. He basically called one bet loads with Ax and decent suited connectors, only raised with TT+ and had seen him fold AQ to a 3bet. We're in the big blind with
, and the action pre was as follows.
UTG: £4
UTG+1: £10
One caller, villain in the hand calls.
Small blind calls.
I make it £55
UTG: tank folds
The table folds round to villain who calls and we're heads up.
At this stage in procedings, we're playing about £250 back and as much as I sound like a typical live donk here, I'm
certain he has AK in this hand.
Flop (£144)
The driest king high board ever. Basically if I'm right I get the lot, and if I'm wrong with my read then he's probably not going to give me anymore money in the hand anyway, so I just look the dealer in the eye and declare "all in." He snaps and whips AK over like it's the nuts. We fade the two remaining kings and scoop. I've never been so happy to get snapped off in my life. Perfect poker innit.
3)I'm running so golden that, even when I get it absolutely wrong, I find a way out. This hand took place at Gala, on a table with a few regs and three DTD dealers. I'd basically just gone down for the crack, and somehow not been turned away at the door for being inebriated. The effective stacks in this hand are £100 or so, and a few of you might recognise this from a recent PHA.
It's been limped to my big blind and we find the
, and bump it up to £8. We get three callers and away we go.
Flop (£35)
The guy in the small blind leads for £25, and based on a few hands I've seen him play at Dusk and throughout the night, I basically don't think he has top pair as he would bet way smaller and I don't think he has a straight as he would check regardless of the texture. So I'm not entirely sure what he has, maybe like bottom pair and a draw, maybe just a flush or straight draw. Anyway it feels like he'll fold to a jam sometimes and when he calls he'll have the worst hand a lot and we get there loads anyways. Given this info, I just move it in here. And I was right! He folded! However, I did get called by the other two players in the pot. Oops. The dealer Nick shows me
and with a glint in his eye, goes "is this good at the moment?" Oh, you were just asking for it mate.
Turn (£360)
Oh now we're chopping and I'm freerolling, 'cause the other guy in the hand has revealed the mighty
.
River (£360)
Oh baby! Get me there! Poker's easy! All you have to do is be terrible and you win money!
4)This is like a bonus hand, if you will.
Alex has humbly come to join in on a 50/1 game, probably after hit and running the 1/2 at some point. The game is 6 handed and is pretty close to death. I open the
to £4, and get three callers including our local hero Alex Goulder.
Flop (£16)
Alex leads for £10, everyone calls. Obv.
Turn (£56)
I guess 54 gets there, but this is a pretty safe turn card. Even so, I'm pretty happy when Alex checks. It gets checked round and we see a free river.
River (£56)
Completes backdoor diamonds, but again not too troubling. Very happy to check. Habib declares one pair and shows a
. Alex declares one pair and shows a
. I declare one pair and show a
. Wait a minute, that's not a pair! And neither is my
. In fact, I have the flopped nuts. Well played Sean. You run so good you just accidentally get the nuts. What a life. "Afraid of the flush mate?" quipped Alex. What a local hero.
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