The game I sat down in was a little tougher than the previous night with the same reg as the night before and another one I know from when I used to go down a lot more. The only thing that surprised me was that he is 'still' playing 1/2 when he was playing that a couple of years ago. I figured he would have moved up by now.. but maybe he isn't as good as I thought.. or there's another reason. But lack of bigger games clearly isn't one.. Since Luke Schwartz and mates are there playing 100/200 mixed games everynight...!
I managed to blow up a little at the start of this session and got into a big hole quickly. I had a little trouble with the cash desk as my previous limit was 500/day but seeing as its £400 max on the 1/2 that doesn't really allow for any rebuys, so I asked them to change it from now on to be 2k, which should keep me going for a bit. When I move up through 1/3 to 2/5 I'll have to up it again but hopefully then I'll have money at the casino anyways, so I won't have to worry about getting any out.
I did one buyin with air tripling a guy on a
x
runout and he had the old K9o... he even snapped the river shouting nuts... as one of the other guys said "you realise he's probably got AK?". Then I had the awkward situation of mucking... sigh.
The next buyin went in a really messy spot where the really nice guy two to my left opens UTG blind for £12 and it gets called 5 way before it gets to me. I have
and decide to peel for a set since I'm in the SB and we're deep. The BB a really young looking kid, who I make friends with over the next 14 hours peels and we all see a flop of
which is pretty perfect for me. The 'blind' guy makes it £25 into a pot of close to 80 and gets called by a young 'megafish' who looks like an internet whizzkid but his looks are extremely deceiving, it folds round to me.. and I decide that there is plenty in there, and all I really have to dodge is the 'blind' guy having flopped tp. The kid next to me can't call if I shove with almost any hand, the blind guy is only calling tpgk+ and the 'whizzkid' clearly can't call off with anything but a big draw or big tptk type hand.. and maybe shouldn't even be calling that (vs my value range).
So I check, shove for 350 over a pot of close 130 and I should almost never be getting called. The kid folds and the blind guy snap folds.. then the whizzkid - well he looks me up and down, sighs, then slides in his betting discs...
FML!
He has the ever mighty and clearly not behind
.
I explode.
I literally turn back 2 years and absolutely blow.
It's not pleasant, it wasn't funny, it wasn't classy... I did manage to keep most of it off the table but I definitely blew.
He holds and gives me a wink and a smile as I go to find some more money. (I did turn a 6 for a gutty but no joy...)
Then the cash machine decides to fuck with me as well and doesn't let me get any money out, the cash desk say I've hit my limit because technically its still the same day as when I took money out, even though I've been to sleep in between and its day2 for me.
I give up with the room, get 5 minutes outside and go get some money from the street across the road. I'm now in a £1500 hole and have no more bi's left. I'm literally so pissed off at myself, at my play, at my conduct, and monstrously so that I'm going to have to put it on here, I'm going to have to cough up and own up to being a tool, again.
Knowing I have to post on here is actually more scary and more annoying than losing the money.
But I get my shit together and go back in, I sit down, apologize to the table and get back on with it. I'm not tilting but I was sure I looked like it, and I made it my mission to not get into any more 'dick-swinging' wars!
Slowly I chip up a little but for the most part I grind between 600 and 700 for about 5 hours. I can't really seem to find a hand, and I can't seem to make any top pairs.
I lost a little with AQ vs a limp/called AK on KQxxx where the older gentlemen decided to lead, lead, lead and I called his small bet sizings down. It turns out that he just always had a big hand when he lead and no one else seemed to notice. #nicebalancebro
I spend the rest of the night/morning trying to carefully navigate my way down the streets...
The table changes throughout the night and the kid n I get friendly, he seems a little bad but doesn't mess with me too much. Turns out he's a 0.25/0.50 reg on stars that's winning, which is really strange to me considering how I see him play. It gives me a lot of optimism for next year!
Another table breaks as we're pretty short handed and an older middle-eastern looking gentleman sits in seat 9 (im in 6) and I mark him as a target really quickly... he runs pretty good vs the table but when seat1 becomes available I move round next to him. At this time I've got just under 900 and its 6am, I know the time because one of the 'morning' regs had just come in, he jumped in my seat next to this young kid that's just arrived and clearly has some issues. I don't know if the kid was 'high' or on something or drunk... but he was really angry and was really unpleasant to all at the table.
This is getting even tl:dr for me to write...
The next 8 hours are good to me with the highlights being the following:
- I raise
from CO over a straddle to £24 and get a SB peel from a 2/5+ reg who is marking time in our game and a little tilted from losing some big all ins already, we see a flop 3 way with seat 9 and flop
Seat 9 leads for 26, I raise to 64 and the SB cold peels... then Seat 9 peels as well. The turn is
and Seat 9 checks.. the pot is just under £300 and they both have 300-450 behind, I cover.. I decide to go big or home, and I shove all in. SB now tanks and tanks... which is good for me (no 10's or J10 then) and says something that scares the life out of me "you could have AK, or you could have QQ's..." Which makes me think he beats one but not the other, and obv I'm not trying to make him fold a house.
He calls and Seat 9 instantly snaps his stack off.
I'm up against the drawtastic
and
.
We hold and scoop a monster pot.
- I 3bt pre vs Daniel in seat 7 and he peels with position and we're both over 1k deep... I cbet a 9xx board, but turn a K to pair my KQ. I know Dan will level himself a lot here with his value range and I overbet to 150, he folds but later tells me he was 50/50 on calling turn and any river. Shame.
- I then make the sickest call I've ever made.
I 3bt AQo from SB over another of 'Daniels' opens, and the UTG limper (2/5reg from earlier - who is visibly tilting) snap calls... I knew from body language and game flow that he wanted this pot, and that he was going to do anything to get it. Dan folds and hu to the flop I see K82r.
I cbet to setup a check call, check call line on good runouts vs his floats.
He snaps the flop... then we see a 9 turn... I actually like this as it gives all his broadways a gutshot and all his small connectors some equity. To me I think its going to mean he will bet them all! So I check and he quickly bets £125. I take a few seconds to fake some kind of 'decision' as if I had QQ/ JJ or something... I call.
The river is a perfect
and I know he never value bets any middling hand 'big' so I actually want him to smash this river with a £300+ bet.
He takes a few seconds and after some milling about and moving around of his orange £100 chips he flings in £425.
I snap call.
Before they even hit the felt I've already said call and the dealer is asking to see his hand.
He says the ever amazing to hear "you win" then takes a few seconds and says it again. I then finally decide to open my hand and table my A high and the longest 5 seconds of my life ensues when he reaches for his cards.
I literally 'crumble' inside and realise OMFG he's going to pull back his cards and show me 44 or 55 for a river bluff gone wrong.
He's staring at me, with his cards in his hand as I sweat and start thinking about all the threads on here, all the comments, all the 'wtf are you doing you ass, just value bet'.
My mind is going mental and I'm starting to feel physically sick.
Then he throws the cards back, and everything is good, time restarts and the world spins again... I am the sickest mofo in the room and the whole table are going batshit about the hand. Everyone is talking about it, calling people over from other tables and congratulating me.
It's literally the best feeling in the world, I owned this guys soul for a hefty price tag of +£600 and in that second I demonstrated to myself what I've learned this year.
I knew exactly where I was in the hand, situation and world.. I could see the code and the matrix was no longer a problem I needed to solve.
He then asks me to change up his £1k chip and I now have won my first 1k chip. It's a small milestone really but it is a milestone to me.
He's so visibly tilted by the hand that he actually leaves a few hands later as his bigger game is opening and he doesn't want to stay on the table with me. The guy on my right is also playing in that game and says "nice call, kid" as he pats me on the back and leaves.
They then invite me over into their game and tell me I can have any seat I like. Which I'll take as a big compliment, but I went over and said "thanks guys, I hope I will be in this game soon, but to be honest... its above my bankroll". And they both say "with play like that you'll be here really soon, good luck".
- There is only one other big hand, which is actually vs the same villain as last night with the
vs JJ aipf. I find KK and 3bt pre, he snap peels and I check/shove (using the £1k chip and a £1 chip to cover him). He calls it off and I win on a
runout for another 300.
I finish the session with a total 1200 profit and another lesson in how to make money at live poker. I will learn eventually, but I can crush those games.. I just need to get a thing going with some guys who want to go down for a couple of days at a time to share expenses.
I'm going to try and go down a few more times over the next 3 weeks so anyone that's gotten to the bottom of this and still wants to spend any time in my company, give me a shout.
I'm actually tired of typing after all of this and the more i type, the more I remember.
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