Poker: Another minor victory

My Poker gods must be in a hot phase right now ! 

Although not “free” like my previous victory to satellite into the SCOOP HORSE event, I played in a $4 rebuy event for a seat in the $44 buy-in 8 game event  (SCOOP Event #15)    For a total cost to me of $12.40 (including rake fee) I managed to finish in the top 4 of 24 players to win a seat, so will be playing this event on April 9th!! 

Not free, but definitely a bargain… and didn’t take very long to complete the satellite game either.    I played pretty solidly and was pretty much in the top 10% all the way, so was a relatively easy “cruise” for me into a winning position.

The event itself as 199 players registered so far, but only a $25’000 prize fund guarantee , but I am still looking forward to playing in it :-)

That’s it for me on the SCOOP excitement for now, until the tournaments themselves start that is….. as the only other event I will be playing is the $22 NL Hold’em and I can’t be bothered to play a satellite for that one !

Just need to get into training for the event now… so will have to practice by spending hours playing poker long into the night :-)

Poker: SCOOP here I come !

Wow, I don’t believe it !   As mentioned in my previous post, I was trying to satellite my way in to the HORSE event.   At my second attempt in the satellite qualifying (using my Frequent Player Points (FPP) as the entry fee) I managed to win a seat in the $109 HORSE event in SCOOP (Event #7)  There were 32 entrants giving 3 seats as prizes   It only took 2.5 hours as well…. I am so excited :-)    

My actual play in the game was a bit up and down… well, mainly down and down to begin with… after the first hour I was just under my starting stack and way below average.  I “peaked” at 19th place by the time we were down to 23 players, but after having a beer and concentrating more… either my play improved or I got better cards !     On one of the hold’em rounds I got some really good cards and doubled up, but then decided to fold pocket 8’s when there was a raised and re-raise behind me… only to see an A-J-8 flop and another 8 on the turn !  Oh well, it didn't matter in the end.

At the moment there are 216 players entered into the event on April 5th, but its got a guaranteed prize fund of $250’000 anyways, so should be a nice one to win !

Phew…. I am going to have a well deserved rest now… and maybe another beer!!

General: Camberley Theatre Comedy club

On Saturday night we went to Camberley Theatre comedy club. 

We haven't been there before to see a show so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but as it turned out it was pretty much as you would expect... with tables/chairs scattered around the auditorium and the bar was open so you could take your drinks through.... in fact the bar (and the doors) was open throughout the performance so it was no problem to come and go as needed (provided you could survive the quips from the comic if you went out which they were on stage)

The first comic started a bit later than advertised, apparently due to problems with the trains... he was kind of OK but no more than slightly amusing.   He seemed more interested in finding out about the audience than trying to entertain the audience.

After a break the second comic was slightly better, in that she did tell a couple of pretty funny stories but overall was not a rib tickler

We were a little disappointed so far, but got another drink in the next break and waited for the headliners set.  As it turned out, he was hilarious and really got the audience going.   He did a lot of funny stories and did a bit of audience ribbing as well and really showed up the previous two acts as being pretty shoddy by comparison.

The last act really made the evening worthwhile and felt we did get value for money (apart from the bar which was hugely overpriced!!)

Would we go again ?   Yes, I think we would.... it is a good night out and if you get tanked up before going in, wouldn't need to cost a great deal either  

The next Comedy Club is April 11th and seems to be run every six weeks or so

Poker: some success in Omaha Hi-Lo tourney

Last week I decided to enter a freeroll "8 game" tournament on Pokerstars as a bit of a break from my normal Wednesday night online poker routine.   With over 6000 players it was just a bit of a laugh, but ended up doing pretty well and took it seriously, so ended up finishing in the top 48, all of whom get a free entry into the Weekly Round-2 tournament   Mind you, at just over 5 hours it was a long time to play !

From the outset I decided I would take round 2 seriously as there was $2000 in prizes up for grabs.  I so sat down at 6pm on Sunday for the tournament start, having already prepared Lynn for a long game.   When I went to register , the game happened to be limit Omaha Hi-Low split which was OK, but baulked slightly at over 7500 players but decided to go for it..... 

The standard of play was pretty terrible in the early stages and were also a lot of players who had registered but not bothered to take their seats (go figure!)   I just played pretty solid/tight and managed to steadily build up my stack.   Being limit, it takes a long time to go broke even for terrible players and the blinds were only going up every 15 minutes so looked to be in for the long haul.     As it turned out, I was generally always ahead of the pack, mainly being in the top 10% of players so kept me interested to keep playing...

After around 7 hours (!) we were down to about 20 players and I was a steady 8th/9th sort of position with over 1 million in chips.  Unfortunately I think I must've lost concentration/focus as, with the blinds going up to 30'000/15'000 and 2'000 ante, I found myself quickly slipping down the rankings after a few dubious calls

In the end I finished 14th (which I didn't think was too bad, but felt I should've finished higher)  after playing for just over 7.5 hours... yes it really was 1:35am and yes, I had won some money..... $7 to be precise !

Oh well, better than playing for 5 hours and winning nothing I suppose.... :-)

To be honest, although I am glad I did it... I feel $1 per hour win rate is a bit too low to bother again....  I will now spend my time on qualifying for the SCOOP HORSE event then go back to my normal STT or cash games

Poker: Annual Satellite - Heat 3

Bills heat ran last night, with Lynn, Lee, Mick and Roger playing

It was a frantic match with lots of action, so the following is just a summary of the 6 pages of notes I wrote (and I lost track by the end as well!!)

It all kicked off from the start with family pot and everyone calling Mick's small bet on the flop.  The turn was checked round then Lee bets the Q on the river to take the first pot uncontested.    The second hand saw the first of many encounters between Bill and Lynn, with Bill betting the flop and Lynn calling, Bill betting the turn, but taking it with another bet on the river.   The first big pot was the third hand (!) with Lynn's flush beating Lee's two pair

Level 2 see's one of the many raises from Bill on the button, with everyone calling.   The flop is T-5-3 (2 hearts)  and only Mick and Lynn call Bill's bet of 500   Bill bets another 500 on the turn of 6d  but Mick calls again.  The 3h comes on the river and Mick bets out 1000.  After a long think , Bill is sure Mick has hit the flush, but decides to call anyway.... sure enough Mick has the flush to Bill's A-T (top pair)  so Mick gets a huge chip lead

And so it goes on (I only got through the first page of my notes so far!)  There is lots of calling pre-flop but most being quite tight once the flop is down... the chips are moving around the table pretty quickly.    Suddenly Lynn is down to 2000 chips and gets involve in a big pot with Lee.  In the end she decides to fold on the river leaving very short stacked

At the first break the chip counts are Lee 6700, Mick 5300, Bill 4300, Roger 3000 and Lynn 700

With level 5 we see Lynn all in on flop of Q-8-3    Mick bets the 8 on the turn with everyone else folding we have a showdown... but Mick's Q is good enough to take out Lynn and we are down to 4 players

With the blinds starting to hurt some people, we are still seeing lots of pre-flop calling and action on the flop.  We have a family pot for a A-J-T flop.    Mick bets 500 from button and only Bill calls.   The 9 on the turn sees Bill bet 1000 but Mick calls   The river of 7 obviously doesn't help and is checked down.  Mick's A-3 takes a reasonable sized pot to Bill's Q-8

Level 7 sees Roger all-in on the BB and only Lee calling from the SB.   Roger has pocket 3's to Lee's 6-5 hearts, but a 3 on the flop leaves Lee drawing thin and doesn't improve so Roger doubles up

Next hand sees another family pot for a K-K-9 flop (2 hearts)  Bill bets out 1000 and only Roger calls for the rest of his chips    Bill has 9-6 against Rogers A-Q but an A comes and Roger doubles up again and now has around 2800 chips (Lee has around 2700 and Bill 7000)

Lee is short stacked so goes all-in on button with Q-9 but Mick looks him up with A-7     Luckily Lee hits a 9 on the river and takes a 4100 pot !

Level 8 and it is always going to be all action with 4 players still left !    My notes get a bit vague here as there is lots of action and at least one player is all-in every hand!

Roger doubles up on SB, then doubles up again the next hand when he hits a Q on a K-Q-4 flop against Bill's J-T

The small stacks seem to have the edge, as Lee goes all in with AQ against Mick's BB and with no-one improving takes the pot.

Then Bill is raising from the button and Roger goes all-in with 9-9 against Bill's A-Q    Roger holds on to take a pot of over 10'000 and the chip lead !

The last level sees Bill out on the first hand of the level against Roger, but Lee quadruples up his 500 stack.   Mick has 400 chips to Lee's 2000 and Roger has the rest, having been down and very nearly out not so long ago !!

Next hand sees Mick and Lee all-in with Roger in the BB  Mick wins so triples up, but Lee takes the higher pot beating Rogers hand

hen we have Lee going all in from the button with A-6 but Roger hits his hand and takes Lee out

With Mick having less than SB left, the next two hands are dealt face up but Mick doubles up three hands on the trot and seems to be coming back into the game.... however Roger's touch returns and hits a good hand to take Mick out and the heat victory

Phew, it was a roller coaster, turbo charged, all action event and I'm quite exhausted just watching !

Well done to Roger, but we'll see Mick in the semi-final for another try

Poker : Pokerstars SCOOP

Pokerstars are running their Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP)  from April 2nd for 2 weeks.

There are three levels of play for low, medium and high buy-in's so am looking at entering three or four events myself !

One thing of particular usefulness is that there are feeder satellites tournaments into the main events, some of which allow you to use your Frequent Player Points (FPP)   As it happens I have several thousand FPP which I can use, so hope to qualify on the cheap rather than having to pay all the entry fees

At the moment I am hoping to enter :-

4th April : Pot Limit Omaha ($22)
5th April : HORSE (if I qualify through satellite  as its $109 entry fee!)
9th April : 8 game ($44)
10th April : No limit Holdem  ($22)

Will report how I get on with the satellites  (if I do any good :-) ) and the tournaments I decide to enter.

Poker: Annual Satellite Heat 2

Sean ran his heat last night, with Karen, Alex and Steve playing

The play started out cagey and tight, taking a little while before we saw any big bets.  The first big hand came when Q-9-8 came on the flop then J and A on the river.   Sean bet the river with Karen calling and shows Q-9 for two pair against Sean’s KK !

The next couple of levels are steady, although a couple of hands got interesting when Sean raised it up on the flop or pre-flop but both times taking the pot uncontested… this being the main pattern (call, raise, then fold all round)  

At the first break, the chip stacks reflect the level of aggression shown so far :-)     Sean = 4000, Steve = 3800, Alex=3300 and Karen = 4900

After the break, the blinds start to hurt a little so the action cranks up a notch… although there is still a propensity to fold to a large raise…. until…..  we see an unraised family pot, and the flop is K-Q-4 (2 hearts)  and all check    The turn is 9 and Steve bets 200, Sean raises to 500 with Karen then Steve calling.  The river brings 8 and Steve checks, but Sean bets 1000 into the 2300 pot.  After a long think Karen calls, but Steve folds, also after a lot of soul searching….. Sean shows A-9 and takes the pot from Karen’s J-9  Steve is gutted as he had them both beat and is now getting low on chips !

We see another family pot and the river of 5-4-2 (all clubs) looks dangerous, so everyone checks.   The turn is T clubs and Karen bets out, with only Sean calling.  The Qd on the river doesn’t seem to change much but Sean launches one and puts Karen all-in for another 1500   Karen calls without having to think to long and shows Q clubs to take the pot from Sean's two pair !

The next level sees blinds at 500/300 and with Steve down to 800 chips, he goes all in from the button.  Karen calls from the BB and shows A-T against Steve’s A-K    The first card shown on the flop is a cruel T followed by A-J,leaving Steve needing the Q, but two blanks see the first casualty of the game

Soon after Sean raises from BB and Karen calls on the button.   The flop sees T-7-4 and Sean checks to Karen , then calls the 1000 bet.  The Q and 4 are checked down, but then a bit of controversy as Sean points out that Karen had put the burn cards on top of her hole cards…. as it is easy to reconstruct the hand, the Tournament Director ruling goes in Karen’s favour, who then shows A-7 against Sean’s A-K to take a good sized pot and the chip lead….  (Sean=4200, Alex=3300, Karen=8500)

The chips start moving around the table though, as the next level has 1000/500 blinds.    Alex is soon all-in with Karen calling, but the flop of 3-5-6 had given Alex a straight against Karen’s pair and suddenly Karen chip stack is looking under pressure.     Sean is getting more aggressive and taking down pots uncontested again, so is building up his stack

The last level sees Karen and Alex battling it out again, when on unraised flop of 8-8-7 Karen checks then calls Alex’s all-in bet.     Alex’s J-7 is ahead of Karen’s T-2 and another J on the turn seals Karen’s fate and we are suddenly heads-up

It is soon all over, as Sean folds the first couple of hands, then Alex folds the next, but the next hand sees Sean all-in pre-flop with K-7 and Alex calling with 8-3     Poker is a cruel and fickle game as the first card shown on the flop is…. yes you guessed it…. a 3 !  This is followed by J-J-2-6 so Alex wins the heat !!

It was a thoughtful and edgy game overall, but the sudden flurries of action made it interesting to watch.  The finale couldn’t have been predicted as it seemed Karen had it wrapped up, then Sean but Alex coming in right at the end (when it matters most) so all in all another good game

Well done to all, see you next time

Poker: Home Tournament - March 2009

Its the first £10 special of the year and there is a full compliment of players so will be hectic

I started out pretty cautiously as normal, going into a hand with Jock when on BB, nothing came and Jock bets and as he had a good hand the previous two hands I folded.  He showed a bluff this time, but wasn't worried as it was early on.   Couple of hands later I limp in with 33 and the flop comes an ideas A-3-x    Sean bets a fairly substantial 500 chips and as Alex was behind me, decided to just call (but Alex folds)   Sean checks the turn which was a 6 so I moved all in for around 1000 or so and Sean calls... showing 5-4 for an up and down str8 draw.  Of course a 5 comes and gives him the straight so I am first to rebuy !

After that I play pretty cautiously, so raised with 88 when it came to ensure only good hands called me. Jock called and bet out on the Flop and turn but when A came on the river I decided to fold to another bet....  he showed AJ so despite being ahead to the river could easily have been out !

It wasn't long after that when on the button I looked down to see pocket Q's... lucky really as I only had 975 chips and the blinds were 75.   As a couple of people had limped, I decided to go all in, being happy to take the blinds and calls.... however Sean calls again, this time with pocket 4's.    I am way ahead again, but the flop comes 2-5-6, giving Sean a middle pin straight draw, which comes in on the turn !  I couldn't believe it, but was out in 35 minutes after two bad beats  from Sean!

Things are a bit of a haze after that... :-)  but what I remember is it being a night of the underdog taking the spoils and crazy things happening.....   Sean's large stack seemed to go to Jock and I remember one hand where Jock was betting each street, then Sean put in a huge overbet on the River which Jock thought about but called with A high !    Funny thing was that Sean had a worse hand !!

Later on, Derek was down to being all in blind on the big blind with around 300 chips, but managed to trip up.  Darren similarly was all in when low stacked with KK, but hit a K on the flop and also got back into it.

Mick was low stacked and trying to get busted out so he could go home.... so went all in blind and won, next hand did the same... and doubled up... and again.. so suddenly was the table chip lead !  So much for wanting to go home :-)

Time was getting short and the blinds high, but we still had 10 people in entering the last round with 2000/1000 blinds.

The action suddenly came thick and fast with all-ins on both tables pretty much every hand... but it still took 5 minutes before we were down to 8 players when Jock took out Andy, then a hand or two later Mick as well.... so the final table at last (with around 15 min's left to play!)

Lee kept up his 100% points scoring record, but was out in 8th on the first hand of the final table

Derek gave himself a good stack when he busted out Bill, but Jock took an unassailable lead when he bust out Karen and Alex in the same hand... but just in time, as with three players we only had 4 hands left to play

It was a bit of a damp squib in the last few hands as it was mainly folding or calling then folding to a raise.... so the positions remained the same and Jock took the victory with ease !

It definitely seemed to be a weird game, but that is what makes the game so fascinating.... roll on next session as I have got some catching up to do now !

Poker: Annual Satellite Heat 1

I ran my heat yesterday (Tuesday) with myself, Lynn, Martin, Andy and Simon playing

It was quite a lively affair, but I was keeping my nose clean and playing tight and timid.   Didn’t pick up any hands to start with, but then had a couple of good hands on the trot and was a few hundred chips up.   

Then got AJs and raised, with Simon calling from the button.    The flop came A-Q-x and I put out a small bet, with Simon re-raising to 1000    I knew Simon would have an A, but wasn’t sure if he had 2 pair, or an A with better kicker so decided to fold.  Simon showed his AT when I showed him my A   Although I was ahead I was happy enough with my decision

Lynn was playing OK, but then got involved in a hand with Martin.   He made substantial bets preflop and on the flop but checked the turn and river, showing pocket A to go with the A on the river !    Lynn had been drawing and hadn’t anything and was only left with 1000 or so chips (but was lucky Martin hadn’t been more aggressive!)

It was nearly an hour before the first person went out, when I knocked out Lynn, which took us to the first break.    I had around 6000 or so chips as did Martin, with Simon getting a bit short stacked

After the break I had a bit of a purple period, getting pocket 8’s I raised and only Andy called.   The flop came A-8-x with two spades so decided to bet aggressively and put Andy all-in.   Andy had nut flush draw and straight draw, so called for all his chips… but unfortunately for him no help came and he was out in 4th

Couple of hands later, I got pocket T’s and raised, with Simon calling.   The flop came T-5-x giving me top trips but to my surprise Simon quickly called all-in when I put in a bet, showing pocket 5’s !   Neither of us improved so I had taken out Simon as well !

It was now heads up with myself and Martin, with me having around 13’000 chips to Martins 7’000.    Martin had been playing unusually steady and solid all night , so seemed really determined to do well.   I therefore started out quite playing quite passively, resulting in us soon having virtually identical chip stacks.    I got some good hands and had made a few chips, but was still very close chips stack when a key decision came….

I had pocket 8’s and raised from the button and Martin went all-in    I had previously folded a couple of times to an all-in thrust from him pre-flop, so wasn’t sure what his shoving range was…  my initial reaction was to fold, assuming he had a pair, but in the end decided his range would be any good Ax or any pair so decided to call his all-in.   Unfortunately for me, he had pocket 9’s and hit a 9 on the turn for good measure!    I thought it was all over but actually had more chips back than I thought.  Even so I ended up with only 800 chips and with the blinds at 500/300 things weren’t looking good for me !

The next hand I went all in from the small blind and doubled up, then had a string of good cards so was either going all-in with Martin folding,  or Martin just folded his small blind.  I quickly was up to about 3000 chips.  Then another key hand happened….. I had T2 in the big blind and decided to not raise (for a change!)  The flop came A-x-2 so stuck all my chips in but Martin has A6, so I am way behind….  lucky for me help comes in way of a T and I get a good double up  !!

With my aggression continuing, by the time we get to the 2nd break we both have around 10’000 chips again so it’s game on again !!

With both of us with 5 blinds each, it was never going to last long… so two or three hands into the round, I get AJ diamonds and raise, Martin re-raises all-in and I call.  Martins A3 clubs is well dominated, but the hand played itself really…. the K clubs came first, but it was the 3 that came on the flop which proved decisive and Martin had taken a well deserved victory.

It was a great game, ending up with an amazing heads up struggle which on its own took taking an hour for it to conclude…. having thought I was out once on a bad decision by me, it was good I was able to claw my way back and go out in a more befitting style (not saying I wouldn’t rather have won it of course :-)  )  At least I came out of it with a heroic tale to tell and a second chance in the semi-final play off…..

General : Cinema “The International”

Last weekend we went to see the film “The International”   It was immediately gripping and interesting, with a plot that was not difficult to understand but were never quite sure where it would go.   It also had some good action sequences and stunts so for me was definitely worth going. 

Lynn didn’t mind it either, although she might have preferred to see “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” which I actually thought we had agreed to see in the end, but I’m not sad about our choice of film :-)