Was busy trading Day 2 at Cheltenham, but, decided to miss the last race, in favour of going to my local casino's regular Wednesday poker tournament.
Got there, just in time for the 7.30pm registration, and noticed that of the 60 or so players, a few superstars were missing .. so, felt it was a good omen.
Feel my game is pretty sharp right now, but, I suppose all players do .. and blame variance on bad runs.
Anyway, get a v tough table draw .. 6 of the 9 are decent, with 2 unknowns.
8000 chip stacks, initial blinds 25/50 .. one re-buy, in first 40 mins .. $125 to enter.
Almost immediately, I get involved with :
6 ♦ 7 ♦
on the button.
2 away from me raises, 3x, and I call.
Flop comes :
8♦ 5♦ 6♥
Thats a pretty good flop for me .. no shit sherlock .. and it ends up, all going in the middle, as he has
6 ♣ 5♥
I hit, the 4 ♦ on the turn, and double up.
A few hands later, I am playing a tough pro, who mainly plays cash, and likes to gamble with me ..
I have 9 ♣ J ♣ and call his raise, of 4x.
Flop comes :
J ♦ J ♥ 10 ♠
As its the sort of board, he knows I can have/or will bluff at, I bet 65% of the pot, he shoves, and I call.
He has : A ♦ A ♠ .. thats ok, am monster fav, but, he catches A ♣ on the turn .. FUCK !! and cripples me, down to below avg stack.
Mentally, thats tough. Especially, when its a guy, who has beaten you in pots, probably 8 of 9 times, in the last 3 mths, when I am normally at least 60/40 fav.
Anyway, didnt go on tilt ..
I nick a few blinds here and there, and re-build my stack, with small pots, when I get involved, with the same pro, with :
J ♦ 10 ♦
Blinds are now 100/200, and I have 6000 chips. I am in late position, so, raise to 700, he calls.
Flop is Q ♣ 8♣ 5♦
I check, he checks.
Turn is 9 ♣ .. giving me the nut straight, but, am losing to a flush. He shoves.
Thats not an easy call .. but, finally make it, and he has :
K ♠ K ♦
and win the pot/knock him out.
This is all fine, but, the dynamic of the table then changes, as 4 new people come to the table, who are all 'buddies'. They dont soft play each other, so, its ok - but, they do talk during hands.
The card room management is v poor .. and tonite, it was especially poor, as the usual guy was off.
Almost right away, 2 of the buddies got involved in a hand, and they basically talk to each other, during the hand .. which is sometimes fun, but, can create friction, when one guy, talks his 'buddy' off a hand.
Anyway, I am staying out of it, but, finally cant resist, and target - who I thought was the weaker of the 4.
I have 3 ♠ 5 ♠ .. not great, but call his raise.
Flop is 6 ♦ 7♦ 10 ♠ .. so have quite well concealed .. crap .. really.
We both check, turn is 5 ♥, so I bet ..he calls, after a deep think.
I take this deep think as weakness, and after a blank hits the river, shove all in .. I had him covered.
At this point, hes thinking, (no one is talking), but, after a good while, he calls. I throw my cards in the muck, and he says to the dealer, he wants to see them.
I say, he cant .. I have mucked, and he says he has paid to see.
Now, I understand his point .. a bit, as I could be chip dumping, but in most places, if u just chuck your cards in .. they stay concealed.
He was quite a big guy, and grabs the cards, turning them over.
I dont like this, and call for the card room manager, who is useless, and doesnt know if the cards should be exposed or not .. I just leave it, .. hes won the hand, and 2 or 3 hands later, the guy comes over, and shakes my hand, saying 'No hard feelings' .. which I suppose, is fair enough.
So, its already been a 'tough' nite, and have a headache.
20 mins later, I have about 25k in chips, and the blinds are 300/600.
One of the 'merry/drunk' brothers is small blind, 'muscles' is big blind.
I have A ♦ K ♣ in late position.
I raise to 3000. The 'merry' brother calls, puts his 3000 chips in the middle, at which point, 'muscles; says, 'All-in'. Brother, says, 'Oh Shit', grabs his 3000 chips back, and puts his cards, face down, in the middle of the table .. what the fuck !!
His brother, rightly says, u cant do that, and the small blind brother, grabs his cards back.
After some debate, he puts the 3000 in, and I decide to call the extra 7000 - all-in, from 'muscles'.
Back to the 'merry' brother .. and hes talking aloud, what to do. His brother says, 'U should call' - and, even thou hes not involved in the hand, I say nothing. After a good while, he puts the 7000 in, and now, both me and 'muscles' are not happy.
Before it goes any further, I ask for a ruling, as to whether, he should be allowed to retrieve his cards etc, from the middle of the table .. Card management .. say, its ok, he can do what he wants !! but, eventually, decides to fold.
'muscles' has Q ♦ Q ♠ .. about what I expected, but I hit my K, and win the pot, knocking him out.
So, its a fun table .. and my head is throbbing ..
I get moved .. YES !!, to a weak table, and a novice gives me 27k in chips, when he shoves with
K ♦ K ♠
on a board of
A ♣ 7 ♠ 8♦ .. I have A ♥ K♥, so its an easy call, and as I say, he just gave me the chips.
There are now 11 players left, I lose some chips .. but have 55k, of the 475k in play.
We get down to 10, and a final table is called.
We move to the table, draw for seats, and someones asks for 5 mins break .. even thou, we had a break, 20 mins earlier. Everyone says ok .. and I wander off, to get a coffee.
This takes longer than it should, and am back, after maybe 7 mins .. and they have started, with me losing a small/big blind, of a total of 3000 chips.
I say .. whats going on ? No one tried to call me etc .. but these are poker players, .. its mid-nite, and even thou, I have often waited for players, and wont start a final table, till everyone is present, they basically say, 'tough shit'.
I declare to the table .. Fine .. 'No Deals' .. we will play till 4 in the morning, and slow play my hands, for the next hour - taking a minute to even look at my cards.
This naturally, amuses some/pisses off others, but, they can do nothing, and the card manager has little idea, when/if he can call a clock ..
Anyway, the tourny paid down to 7 players, and 'No deals' no one talks to me.
2 get knocked out, so .. the virtual bubble is created, when, the same guy, who asked for a deal, 2 weeks earlier, and I have said no to, re-raises my 9000 chip raise - all-in.
I have 40k chips .. to call, was 27k more .. and I have A ♦ J ♠.
Thats probably not winning, normally he plays solid, but, even thou I knew, I was probably behind, I call.
He has A ♣ K ♠ .. so, am dominated, in a v poor spot, and everyone is licking their lips.
The flop comes :
J ♦ J ♥ 10 ♦ .. Yeah baby !!, and he goes ballistic. Which is fair enough. He doesnt find the Q for a straight, so he goes out the door, with some loud expletives, more about how bad he runs, than my shit play.
I am now, 2nd in chips, there are 6 left, and I am a good thing to win.
I rob the table blind .. still didnt see a premium pair .. just had the 3 x A K all night, and we get down to 3, at which point, I suggest a deal, and we each get $1100 each.
This story, isnt over yet.
Last week, when I won, the guy in 5th place, was stopped by Police, at the first traffic light outside, and basically had to give him his money.
I went to my car, hid $1000, and left $100 in my pocket.
At the same traffic light, the cops are there again, and I get pulled over. The talk starts, I say, I have $100, can I give u $40, and he says, sure.
Not happy about the robbery .. but, realistically, will let it slide.
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