Getting Up When It's Dark
It was barely light when I drove back from The Gutshot at 8 this morning and there are now, at 4:30 pm, only a few morsels of daylight left. Such is the life of a live poker and one that many players will be all to familiar with. In fact, as live poker goes, a 10-hour session really isn’t all that long...
...however, since virtually all my poker to date has been on the internet (with the odd home game thrown in here and there) where one can log in and out as and when one pleases and where places like Party Poker have a constantly heavy stream of traffic, poker has been able to revolve around other commitments such as sleep and fiancées! When one has to invest time and resources to get to a card room there is a greater need to play for longer in order make the trip worth while. The ability to play more than one table simultaneously on the internet and the fact that one is dealt up to three times and many hands per hour online compared to live means that one’s earn rate for any given stakes is likely to be much higher online than it is live.
There are clearly many reasons for playing live. One of the biggest attractions for me is the social aspect of live play and the banter at the table I found myself on for the majority of last night was excellent.
The first table that became available was a 25p/50p PL game with a fixed buy-in of £25, which was self-dealt. There was also a very juicy £1/£2 game with a minimum buy-in of £50, which I had been eyeing since the tournament. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for a seat and one opened up just to the right of a pretty loose aggressive player who ha accumulated a faire sized stack – excellent!
Unfortunately I was being dealt utter crap and I had to sit back and watch as he and another buy to my left kept haemorrhaging chips to everyone but me, but on the plus side, this didn’t seem to be deterring them from reaching into their wallet.
Having been dealt trash consistently for the first hour or so I get dealt KdQd I forget my exact position but I know a guy behind me raised after I’d limped it – I’m guessing that if I limped with it then I was probably in early position. There were two or three callers by the time it came back to me so I also called. The flop came queen high with two hearts, it was checked round to the preflop raiser and I took it down with a cheeky check-raise. I’d imagine I had him beat, but since that was the first real money that I’d committed all night there’s a small chance that he might have put AQ down, but he didn’t think for long about it so I doubt it.
I didn’t really get involved in many big hands. I continued to be dealt utter crap which every now and then allowed me to take advantage of the Rock-Of-Gibraltar image that I’d been exuding, but never to win any big pots.
I had a pretty good read on the guy to my right and made a couple of good laydowns. I raised three limpers with TT expecting that given my table image so far I’d get very few callers. Five people called! The flop was 35J (rainbow). It was checked round to me and with only one person behind me I bet just under the pot size – about £40. With that many people in the pot I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t got top pair but having it checked round to me, I wasn’t about to check too. I got one caller – it was the lag to my right. The turn brought another Jack and Mr. Lag bet out £30. This was about half of his stack and stunk of a monster, since I’d never seen him bet less than the pot. Not a difficult lay down with TT, but everyone else on the table thought I must have dropped an over pair and I wasn’t about to try to convince them otherwise! Mr Lag didn’t show his cards, but said that he wasn’t happy with the way he’s played the flop and he nodded when I asked if he’d had bottom set.
Very shortly after that I was able to see a flop with KQ. It was queen high and Mr. Lag, who I think had raised preflop, bet the maximum into a number of people. I figured he was frustrated at not getting the maximum from me in the hand before and was therefore not going to let the opportunity slip here, but I got away from my KQ, everyone folded and he showed AQ.
Late night became early morning and I was sitting with exactly the same amount as I’d started with. The table had dwindled somewhat and we were down to four players. I stepped up the aggression and took down a few small pots and we had the first pot of the night where no one called a preflop raise! I then lost a largish pot: I raised on the button with Kd9d and the big blind called. The flop was all undercards with one diamond he checked I bet just under the pot (about £35 and he called). The turn brought another diamond and I wished I’d taken a free card because he check-raised the hell out of me and I had to fold.
There were another couple of hands towards the end of the session, which – although I won – I could have played better and extracted more:
I raised preflop with AK and got one caller – a big stack to my left who had been playing a lot of hands but also giving my preflop raises respect. The flop came Ten, Jack, rag, with two diamonds. I bet out £20 and he called. The turn brought my Ace; I bet out £50 and again he called (without too much problem). At this point, it looked quite likely that he was on a flush draw and when the river was a blank I check to him hoping to induce a bluff. He checked it too and showed AdQd. That was obviously a missed opportunity to earn more, but that was one of a very small number of hands that would have called a river bet and which I was beating so I’m not too unhappy with the way I played it.
One hand I defiantly made a mistake on was when I called a preflop raise from a guy in the cut-off when I had Ks8s in the big blind. A middle position player also called and the three of us saw a flop of 78T (two diamonds). I checked and the other two also checked (I thought that rather than betting this out I would check raise the cut-off if he bet). The turn was a King (which also brought a second club) and I led out for £20. The mid-position player called and the cut-off raised it to £50. At this point I should have re-raised because it was very likely that the player in the middle was on some kind of a draw. Instead I just called, as did the remaining guy. The river brought a blank and my second mistake of the hand was not betting out at that point. It was checked round and the cut-off showed AK. The middle guy said he had a nine for the up-and-down straight draw. I’m pretty disappointed at the way I played this hand. I should certainly have charged for all the draws on the turn, and having not re-raised at that point I missed out by not betting the river.
It was pretty much breakfast by this point and the guy I’d met up with was down £600 for the night (whoops!) and was ready to call it a day. I agreed to play one more round of the blinds and the very next hand I looked down and saw two gleaming black Aces – finally, a hand! I was first to act and made to maximum raise to £7. I got 5 callers, eek! The flop couldn’t have reassured me more when it came 3A5 (two spades), although it was going to be hard to see where I was going to make any money. I bet out $40, which was essentially the size of the pot. I thought it unlikely that I’d get any callers since there was only one remaining Ace, but I needed to charge for any flush draws out there since that is the only hand that would be likely to call. Everyone folded, but I was happy to take down a reasonable sized pot and finally find myself up a decent amount for the session.
Overall I finished about £100 up for the night after I’d deducted my tournament losses, which I was pretty happy with. I hadn’t seen many flops, but then I got dealt rubbish for most of the night. The mistakes I made weren’t huge and hopefully I can learn from them.
I’m going to try and go to the Gutshot at least one more time before Christmas. I can’t go tonight unfortunately, as we have family commitments, but I may head down on Monday and/or Tuesday. On Monday there’s a £20 rebuy tournament where everyone puts up an extra £5 bounty on their own head, which adds an extra bit of excitement. Tuesday is the £5 rebuys beginners’ night, which is always fairly busy and very wild – a lot of dead money for the taking as well as some juicy cash games on the side.
That about wraps things up for now. I’ll try and sneak in another live update, when I’m next there.
Peace Out.
...however, since virtually all my poker to date has been on the internet (with the odd home game thrown in here and there) where one can log in and out as and when one pleases and where places like Party Poker have a constantly heavy stream of traffic, poker has been able to revolve around other commitments such as sleep and fiancées! When one has to invest time and resources to get to a card room there is a greater need to play for longer in order make the trip worth while. The ability to play more than one table simultaneously on the internet and the fact that one is dealt up to three times and many hands per hour online compared to live means that one’s earn rate for any given stakes is likely to be much higher online than it is live.
There are clearly many reasons for playing live. One of the biggest attractions for me is the social aspect of live play and the banter at the table I found myself on for the majority of last night was excellent.
The first table that became available was a 25p/50p PL game with a fixed buy-in of £25, which was self-dealt. There was also a very juicy £1/£2 game with a minimum buy-in of £50, which I had been eyeing since the tournament. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for a seat and one opened up just to the right of a pretty loose aggressive player who ha accumulated a faire sized stack – excellent!
Unfortunately I was being dealt utter crap and I had to sit back and watch as he and another buy to my left kept haemorrhaging chips to everyone but me, but on the plus side, this didn’t seem to be deterring them from reaching into their wallet.
Having been dealt trash consistently for the first hour or so I get dealt KdQd I forget my exact position but I know a guy behind me raised after I’d limped it – I’m guessing that if I limped with it then I was probably in early position. There were two or three callers by the time it came back to me so I also called. The flop came queen high with two hearts, it was checked round to the preflop raiser and I took it down with a cheeky check-raise. I’d imagine I had him beat, but since that was the first real money that I’d committed all night there’s a small chance that he might have put AQ down, but he didn’t think for long about it so I doubt it.
I didn’t really get involved in many big hands. I continued to be dealt utter crap which every now and then allowed me to take advantage of the Rock-Of-Gibraltar image that I’d been exuding, but never to win any big pots.
I had a pretty good read on the guy to my right and made a couple of good laydowns. I raised three limpers with TT expecting that given my table image so far I’d get very few callers. Five people called! The flop was 35J (rainbow). It was checked round to me and with only one person behind me I bet just under the pot size – about £40. With that many people in the pot I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t got top pair but having it checked round to me, I wasn’t about to check too. I got one caller – it was the lag to my right. The turn brought another Jack and Mr. Lag bet out £30. This was about half of his stack and stunk of a monster, since I’d never seen him bet less than the pot. Not a difficult lay down with TT, but everyone else on the table thought I must have dropped an over pair and I wasn’t about to try to convince them otherwise! Mr Lag didn’t show his cards, but said that he wasn’t happy with the way he’s played the flop and he nodded when I asked if he’d had bottom set.
Very shortly after that I was able to see a flop with KQ. It was queen high and Mr. Lag, who I think had raised preflop, bet the maximum into a number of people. I figured he was frustrated at not getting the maximum from me in the hand before and was therefore not going to let the opportunity slip here, but I got away from my KQ, everyone folded and he showed AQ.
Late night became early morning and I was sitting with exactly the same amount as I’d started with. The table had dwindled somewhat and we were down to four players. I stepped up the aggression and took down a few small pots and we had the first pot of the night where no one called a preflop raise! I then lost a largish pot: I raised on the button with Kd9d and the big blind called. The flop was all undercards with one diamond he checked I bet just under the pot (about £35 and he called). The turn brought another diamond and I wished I’d taken a free card because he check-raised the hell out of me and I had to fold.
There were another couple of hands towards the end of the session, which – although I won – I could have played better and extracted more:
I raised preflop with AK and got one caller – a big stack to my left who had been playing a lot of hands but also giving my preflop raises respect. The flop came Ten, Jack, rag, with two diamonds. I bet out £20 and he called. The turn brought my Ace; I bet out £50 and again he called (without too much problem). At this point, it looked quite likely that he was on a flush draw and when the river was a blank I check to him hoping to induce a bluff. He checked it too and showed AdQd. That was obviously a missed opportunity to earn more, but that was one of a very small number of hands that would have called a river bet and which I was beating so I’m not too unhappy with the way I played it.
One hand I defiantly made a mistake on was when I called a preflop raise from a guy in the cut-off when I had Ks8s in the big blind. A middle position player also called and the three of us saw a flop of 78T (two diamonds). I checked and the other two also checked (I thought that rather than betting this out I would check raise the cut-off if he bet). The turn was a King (which also brought a second club) and I led out for £20. The mid-position player called and the cut-off raised it to £50. At this point I should have re-raised because it was very likely that the player in the middle was on some kind of a draw. Instead I just called, as did the remaining guy. The river brought a blank and my second mistake of the hand was not betting out at that point. It was checked round and the cut-off showed AK. The middle guy said he had a nine for the up-and-down straight draw. I’m pretty disappointed at the way I played this hand. I should certainly have charged for all the draws on the turn, and having not re-raised at that point I missed out by not betting the river.
It was pretty much breakfast by this point and the guy I’d met up with was down £600 for the night (whoops!) and was ready to call it a day. I agreed to play one more round of the blinds and the very next hand I looked down and saw two gleaming black Aces – finally, a hand! I was first to act and made to maximum raise to £7. I got 5 callers, eek! The flop couldn’t have reassured me more when it came 3A5 (two spades), although it was going to be hard to see where I was going to make any money. I bet out $40, which was essentially the size of the pot. I thought it unlikely that I’d get any callers since there was only one remaining Ace, but I needed to charge for any flush draws out there since that is the only hand that would be likely to call. Everyone folded, but I was happy to take down a reasonable sized pot and finally find myself up a decent amount for the session.
Overall I finished about £100 up for the night after I’d deducted my tournament losses, which I was pretty happy with. I hadn’t seen many flops, but then I got dealt rubbish for most of the night. The mistakes I made weren’t huge and hopefully I can learn from them.
I’m going to try and go to the Gutshot at least one more time before Christmas. I can’t go tonight unfortunately, as we have family commitments, but I may head down on Monday and/or Tuesday. On Monday there’s a £20 rebuy tournament where everyone puts up an extra £5 bounty on their own head, which adds an extra bit of excitement. Tuesday is the £5 rebuys beginners’ night, which is always fairly busy and very wild – a lot of dead money for the taking as well as some juicy cash games on the side.
That about wraps things up for now. I’ll try and sneak in another live update, when I’m next there.
Peace Out.
posted by Pinky @ 4:34 PM
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