General: Stephan Langton Inn pub/restaurant

We decided to go out for lunch today, so aimed for Stephan Langton Inn from the Michelin Guide

It was a lovely warm sunny day and followed the sat nav through the wilds of the Surrey Hills to the destination.  We got the lake OK, but missed the sign for the pub, so had a small detour before we came back and found it.  

Being sunny day, everyone was eating outside and the pub was quite bust.   The standard menu looked OK but was a bit “posh”, but we both fancied the lunch specials on the blackboard, with Lynn ending up with Sausage and Mash, me with the Beefburger.  Both were nice enough and portions were decent size, but did seem a little pricey for what was basically normal pub grub.    You can’t fault the location though, it was certainly an event to get to the pub and was sat in the middle of nowhere.   It was a shame there were no real views to look at from the pub itself, but all in all, definitely worth the effort to get there.   

We then stopped off in Dorking on route home as we’d been through it a few times but never really stopped before to look around.

I think you probably don’t need to stop to see the bulk of the town, as it basically sits along the main road and there didn’t seem much else other than houses off the main road. 

 

In fairness, there were some beautiful views to be had just off the main road, and with the lovely sunny weather it was very pleasant stop we had for coffee (if you could ignore the car park in the immediate foreground)

In summary, Dorking is a fairly nice place for a quick pit stop, but not a great place for shopping or a quiet country tea room (Box Hill car park just up the road would be a better place to stop for a cup of coffee really….)  

We also stopped at Cobham for our Ice Cream, which had a much nicer feel than Dorking and just as many coffee shops, etc..

Poker: Financial results for April 2011

April was always going to be an awkward month, but turned out a bit more awkward that I expected!

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 1000 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50, 1000 cash hands on PLO $0.20 and 500 cash hands of PLO8 $0.20 (all 6-max) with profit target of 2 BB per hour. ($16.00 for NLHE, $6.40 for PLO, $3.20 for PLO8 = $25.60 per month)
- Play 20 STT hoping for 10% ROI (around $20 per month)

Monitor

Overall results for the month :

PokerStars - $114.39
BBP - $432.39 (-£269.54)
Live play -£193.13

Comparing to April 2010, I had only lost $18.76 in total, although I played very little in April last year, so probably not a fair comparison

My live games have already been discussed in previous articles, London Live, Farnborough and Casino trip so won’t dwell on those, but these results fall in line with expectations.

My Pokerstars activities were meant to all be SCOOP related this month, but in the end probably spent more time looking for and waiting on a SCOOP Satellite than actually playing ! In the end only played 2 satellite’s, getting close first time but not getting anywhere in the second. In my frustration ended up deciding to try and spin up my bankroll, but ended up loosing $66 playing NLHE cash, dropping $56 playing 12 STT (with several horrid bad beats!) but my MTT were a little better with a profit of $12 and my normal “8 game” game’s showed a $4 loss over 6 games.

The breakdown of my BBP results for April 2011 :

Cash results (£185.81 loss overall)
NLHE ($0.50) 1054 hands +£10.23
NLHE ($1.00) 107 hands -£142.75
PLO ($0.20) 608 hands -£53.29

Tournaments (£83.73 loss overall)
6x MTT -£ 33.52
13x 2 seat STT +£ 19.09
13x 6 seat STT -£27.45
1x 9 seat STT -£16.64
7x 10 seat STT -£ 25.21

Reflect

I was very ill disciplined on my Pokerstars activities but that was a bit of a one-off so am happy to ignore my poor performance on the NLHE games.

Umm, hold on a moment… where did all those $1 NLHE cash hands come from ? I wasn’t meant to be playing any $1 anymore !! OK so I had a couple of unexpected $1 cash sessions…. so obviously need to plug that leak! The $0.50 was actually break even, which is pretty pleasing so just need to carry on with that as is. The PLO is very patchy still but am feeling quite comfortable with my learning process and just need to tighten up my calling on the river when beat!

Royal Wedding day was my worse single day loss since the last Grading in October last year…. can’t really blame anyone but myself though, as was mostly by playing $1 Cash !

I didn’t play a huge number of tournaments so not a big sample to make any firm conclusions, but pretty comfortable with my performance overall

Adjust

Definitely will be sticking rigidly to 8 game and special events such as SCOOP in the future for Pokerstars. May will obviously be all about SCOOP but will only end up playing 3 or 4 games, due to the change of times making several of my planned games a bit inconvenient.

BBP I need to stick to my plan a bit better…. although May will also be a bit disjointed due to Kitchen being refitted, days off, bank holiday weekends and playing the SCOOP games… but hope it will stay more or less on track in May!

References

January 2011 results
http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/259109/sceaga/Financial-results-for-January-2011/)

February 2011 results http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/294043/sceaga/Financial-Results-for-February-2011/

March 2011 results
http://sceaga.blogspot.com/2011/04/poker-financial-results-for-march-2011.html
** accidently overwrote this posting and had to reconstitute

Poker: Casino Trip

Decided to get back to Reading Maxims Casino for their £35+5 NL Hold’em tourney, as haven’t been there for this (my “normal” game) since December!…

Being the Thursday night before Good Friday, wasn’t sure what the turnout would be like… and as the roads were the quietest I’ve ever seen them was worrying we might struggle to get 10 players.

As it happened, there were 52 runners, so I needn’t have worried.

By some bizarre fluke, Alex was not only seated on my table again but was on my immediate left!    With 11’500 starting stack and 50/100 blinds, we are pretty deep stacked so can sit back and relax…. but no, I get 44 first hand (limp/folded flop)   88 next hand (limp/folded flop) nothing the next hand, then 88 again!     Sadly I was missing all the flops but in the first 45 mins level had a huge variety of good starting hands…. but at the end of the level I had dropped to 10’000 chips.   Then I went completely card dead and only saw A-Qo UTG for the next 45 mins (which did me no good either) so was still at 10’000 chips the end of that level.    The third level saw me with A-T twice, once taking the blinds then second time I raised from late position and was re-raised to 2000 from button.  The SB called and I called so we had over 6000 chips in the pot    The flop came Txx and SB checked.  With only about 8000 behind and the button being aggressive player, I knew he was betting big if I checked… so shoved all-in!  After a long dwell and much talking, the button folded and SB folded, giving me a nice pot to add to my stack.… phew!

At the break, I was at 14’900 chips with 44 players left and the average being about 12’000  

Sadly Alex had been busted on the last hand before the break when he raised AA and got called by two players… he hit A on the flop and got it all-in against one of the players, but the villain had flopped a straight and Alex didn’t improve so was out in 44th place!

After the break I didn’t get much I could play with and just held station.   With the blinds up to 1000 by now I had around 12’500 on the button and look down at 5-5    One of the Lady regulars min-raised from mid position.    She had only recently joined the table and had been insisting the dealer kept her cards to show what good hands she was folding to raises (they weren’t always all that good ), but anyway knew she was fairly solid.  I guessed she could fold small pairs and weak aces, but would call bigger Aces and pairs, so decided to go for it.   She shows A-Jo so we’re racing and the flop and turn comes small cards and gives me a str8 draw as well, but the J on the river cruelly took me out in 27th place

I was actually pretty happy with my play overall… but never really got much over my starting stack so was always going to be one hand I had to commit to in order to double up or get knocked out.   Sadly I was knocked out this time……  oh well, there’s always another game round the corner

As it happens there was a £1/£2 cash game running, so decided to join as it was only 11:30pm, so bought in for £100.   First hand I got dealt Q-Q and raised and was happy to get a re-raise all-in from a short stack (he had around £15)    His K-T didn’t hit so I was up around £15 already, so a good start.   My hope was to make back the £40 entry to the tournament, but realistically my target would be to make £8 per hour at this stack levels, so this was certainly the best start I could hope for.   

Sadly the next hour saw me hold station between £110-£90 stack size and the player numbers went from 7 to 3 then gradually more players joined, eventually getting up to 8 players by the time I left.     A few hands after a new player had joined, I got A-Q and raised, seeing only the new player call.   I bet the 8xx flop, checked the low card on the turn, then decided to put him all-in for £25 on another low card river when he checked to me.  Despite the possible straights, draws and full houses, he decided his J-8 was good for top pair, which sadly it was!      This took me down to about £50 which definitely wasn’t in the plan!

The next hour or so saw me grinding away, playing tight aggressive and managed to get back to a peak of £118 before finally leaving the table around 2am with £116.   The £16 profit for 2.5 hours wasn’t too far off my target so pretty pleased on reflection, although slightly disappointing to not have made more (if only I hadn’t made that reckless big bluff on that one hand!)

All in all, an enjoyable and cheap night out , getting in nearly 6 hours of playing Poker  which can’t be a bad thing

Poker: trip to Farnborough Poker Club

Having won my seat in their £100 game in a previous game, it seemed sensible to take the earliest opportunity to play, so went to the Sovereign Poker club in Farnborough last night to play their monthly “Main Event”

There were 65 runners and top 6 pay

On my table I had an old guy who was limp/calling pretty much everything to the river on my immediate left, a younger sunburnt chap three to my right and a foreign guy opposite who between them provided all the action on the table and a heck of a lot of chatter!    It did make for an entertaining game though…   

I got involved in a pot with T-9s from BB, and the old guy and sunburn saw the flop.  I picked up up&down str8 draw on the flop so chk/called sunburn’s bet as did old guy.    The turn gave me the str8 so chk/raised Sunburn’s big bet thinking he must have something good, but both fold.   Was a nice start.

Later on got K-7s and decided to raise (purely as I hadn’t raised any hand to date)  Old guy called (should’ve guessed) but hit my 7 so decided to bet out.   Old guy just wasn’t budging and so checked the turn and saw K on the river.  I was pretty sure I was likely to be well ahead of his range so bet out and called his min raise… of course he had made runner-runner str8 so I dropped a fair portion of my stack.  

In another hand against Sunburn, I raised A-Jh and the flop came AsTs4h and bet out.    The turn came 8h so bet out again and Sunburn re-raised so I shoved.   He dwelt for a long time then folded, claiming to have folded A-K.   He was quite affronted I didn’t show and wouldn’t tell him what I had, even to the extent he even asked me about the hand when we were in the toilet later on!  (although he was now claiming he had A-Q, so who knows)   

At the first break I had 14’400 (avg 17’105) and there were 55 runners left

On the restart I got moved to another table, but this seemed to immediately change my luck as soon got pocket 8’s and hit 8xx flop.   The 9 turn saw my opponents fold to my bet but was up to 16’000 odd

Soon after got J’s and raised it up.  Got called by tight blind who chk/called my cBet on Qxx flop and chk/called my bet turn (which I thought by now was a semi-bluff)   I was lucky to hit str8 on river so bet out to his third check and he folded, moaning that I must’ve hit the str8

Not long after that I had A-6c on the BB and decided to call short stack small raise from button.   The A-8-6 flop looked good so chk/called button, another A came and we both checked, the J on the end could have been a problem, but felt I must be ahead so bet out and got called by A-2o !    I was up to about 35’000 now.

The second break saw me on 47’000 with the average 29’500 and 33 players left, so in good shape.

After the break I had few playable cards and there were a few 20 BB stacks who were getting active so most pots were now being raised by someone.   I did manage to win another pot here and there and peak chips were about 55’000, but as the ante’s came in I just wasn’t getting any hands or opportunities to make a move.  

With the blinds now 3000/1500/200 I hadn’t played a hand for ages and was down to about 40k, so raised 7.5k with A-6o from mid (hoping to pick up the pot) but got re-raised all-in by tight player to my left so had to fold (he showed K-K)

Soon after I got moved, back to the original seat where I started.  I recognised a few faces, old guy was still there and several tight players still plugging away.

After waiting patiently I was down to around 31’000 so when I saw 9-9 from mid position, decided to lay it aggressively and raised to 10’000 (planning to shove any flop)   Tight lady called from late position (which was a good thing) but BB re-raised all-in.   I didn’t know the BB player but felt there was a good chance I’d be racing, or he might be shoving light on a squeeze play so called hoping to be racing.   Sadly for me, he showed K-K and I’m out in 18th place at 11:25pm  

Overall I feel I played well and didn’t make any huge errors.   I could maybe have got more value on some of my big hands, so need to pay more attention to my bet sizing and value betting.

In the end, it was a freeroll for me, with the chance to made the money so was a worthwhile and enjoyable game.   

Poker: Home Tourney - April 2011

It’s already been a busy Poker month, but am always pleased to be able to enjoy our monthly Poker League game at he club.   Despite the friendliness, there is always a keen competitive spirit with everyone always looking for the win.

Both tables started out cautiously with no-one having any rebuys for well over half hour!    I started out steady, seeing flops cheap and folding when missing, so was down to about 1500 chips (from 2000 start) then Derek starting getting busy and I managed to out flop him a couple of times and take his stack. 

As we got towards the end of rebuys, the action started to pick up as short stacks were trying to accumulate chips before the break.    I got some good cards and some good luck and managed to take Sean’s stack two or three times right before the break.

Derek had also picked up some chips and was actually chip leader at the break with around 10’200 to my 10’000 chips

Things got a bit tougher for me and started losing pots and went down to around 7500 before managing to win back a few small pots and built back up to 10’000 by the time we’d got to 5th level.   We’d seen a few bust outs, then suddenly Derek busted Darren and Karen in one hand and simultaneously Jon busted Bill on the other table, and all of a sudden we have our final table… pretty early for a change !

With a couple of short stacks, it’s not long before Andy want’s to get off fishing and he shoves with A high and gets taken out by Alex

Sean is soon all-in with his short stack, and I am tempted enough to call with my K-Ts thinking I’m ahead but Jon also calls from the SB.    The Q-J-x flop gives me flush and straight draws but Jon Check/calls so have to give him credit for something…. the turn is a 2 and we both check, then the river is also a 2 and Jon checks again.  I am sorely tempted to shove my last 4500 here into a huge pot (3000 side pot and around 7000 odd for main pot) but Jon has me covered and am not certain he would fold with likely Q, so check behind.   Jon’s A-K takes the side pot and Sean has Q-x to take the main pot !  (Maybe I should’ve shoved after all )

After that I limped along short stacked and although managed to knock out fellow short stacker Roger (and got the £2 bounty) it merely delayed my demise as I didn’t get a spot to shove and the blinds were soon at 1000/500.  I ended up calling Derek’s raise from BB with Q-Ts against Derek’s T-T and so went out with a whimper in 5th (again!)

After that the table hotted up, Derek got K-K in against Sean’s A-J and hit K on flop, but Sean hit Straight and took a huge chip lead!

The remaining three were all relatively short, with Alex being taken out by Sean next.

With Derek down to 2x BB and Jon with 1, it looked like it was all over, but both players managed to double up, however with blinds up to 4000/2000 Derek was soon down to 2x BB again and Sean took him out.

Jon clung on to the end and managed to build up to around 34’000 chips but Sean was always managing his stack and deservedly took the victory (despite looking like he might fritter it away for a while)

Great game as always and was exciting to play and watch.   Despite my moaning I ended up £0.50 on the night (I didn’t take any rebuys or add-on’s)    so not too bad a result for me.

Poker: Financial Results for March 2011

*** oops, I somehow managed to overwrite my March 2011 results blog with my April report !!  Uggghhhh!!!!

Plan

My monthly targets are:
- Play 1000 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50, 1000 cash hands on PLO $0.20 and 500 cash hands of PLO8 $0.20  (all 6-max) with profit target of 2 BB per hour. ($16.00 for NLHE,  $6.40 for PLO,  $3.20 for PLO8 = $25.60 per month)  
- Play 20 STT hoping for 10% ROI (around $20 per month)

Monitor

Overall results for the month :

PokerStars     - $29.20
BBP                  - $18.46 (-£11.51)
Live play      +£355.00

The breakdown of my BBP results for March 2011 :

Cash results (£27.98 loss overall)
   NLHE  ($0.50) 1043 hands +£70.91  
   NLHE  ($1.00)  760 hands  -£80.73  
   PLO   ($0.20)  659 hands  -£18.16

Tournaments (£16.47 profit overall)  
    13x MTT               +£8.02  
   23x  2 seat STT  -£ 35.24
   11x  6 seat STT  +£108.46  
     9x 10 seat STT  -£64.77

Reflect

.

Adjust

.

References

January 2011 results
http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/259109/sceaga/Financial-results-for-January-2011/)

February 2011 results http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/294043/sceaga/Financial-Results-for-February-2011/

Poker: BBP London Live update

The fact that I’m writing my blog from home at 6pm maybe indicates I didn’t do as well in London Live II as I’d hoped!

The day started with a bit of a shock when I found out that Jake Cody was seated to my immediate right !   Could’ve been worse, I suppose, he could’ve been on my immediate left

We started just after 12pm with 5 players on my table.  With so many missing players there was lots of limping and raising when the missing players were in the blinds, but I kept out of it mostly.    I did decide to limp T-5s in one case and got four saw the flop, which came 8-6-3 (or something like) with two spades.    Three limped to late position player who bet,  two called.  The turn brought 7 giving me a few more outs, we checked to late position who bet and two of us called.  The river brought my ideal card 4 to give me the straight, but we all checked this time.  Won a nice pot though and showed I wasn’t afraid to play rubbish

The table was joined by a couple of other players, then Tom Drew also joined the table.   He looked a bit tilted already when he sat down, and his mood didn’t improve when he seemed to be calling down pots and lost a fair bit of his stack pretty quickly.

I played a couple of other hands which were insignificant, then woke up with A-Ko and called tight player raise pre-flop.    The K-7-2 flop looked good to me, but decided to flat call the pre-flop raiser’s cBet.   The K on the turn looked like Xmas for me, so bet out when checked to and got called.  The Q on the river looked harmless, but didn’t feel all that comfortable for some reason with the pre-flop raisers check, so checked behind and he showed K-Q to take a sizeable pot!   

Played another couple of small hands by which time it was 1st break

There were 212 runners of which 193 were still going.   Average stack was 22’000 and I was on 20’600  At this stage I am pretty content with my play so far and chip stack.

On the restart, blinds were 200/100.   A few hands in, I got 9-9 on the big blind.   A loose aggro player raised from early position and it folded to me.  I wasn’t worried by the raise as he’d done this quite a bit to date with some weird holdings… so my decision was call or raise…. duly deciding to call.   The flop came J-7-2 with 2 hearts.  I was expecting a cBet 100% of the time, so check/called the expected bet, waiting for the hand to develop.   The 9 on the turn looked good for me, so check/raised this time.   The pot was around 2700 and the villain bet around 1000, so I raised to 4000 which he called.  The pot was now 10’700 and another J came on the river.    I knew the villain was aggro and not afraid to escalate the pot, so bet out small at 1500 thinking he might call with one pair type hands, but he re-raised all-in.  He had me covered, so it was my remaining 15’000 odd to call which was just under 2:1 (but my tournament life if I lost).    I guessed he saw me as tight/weak and I was concerned he may have had J-7 or J-2 but more likely a busted flush or A-J perhaps…. it was definitely my perception of his table image that made me decide to call (more or less anyone else on the table I likely would’ve folded!)… and he show’s J-9 !!    To be honest I had discounted that specific hand from my calculations so he had to have it obv….

So it’s all over for me and am very disappointed not to have got further.   Having thought the hand through (over and over and over ), I am actually still happy with my river call against that particular player so fairly content with my game… just the result is the disappointment.

Decided to go straight home rather than hit the cash tables (I’m certain that decision was the right one!) and got back in time to go to Tesco’s (lucky me ) but at least I didn’t have any problems getting home that time of day on public transport.