Live game

Live game!

I haven’t played any online poker since my last post. – I had a really crappy day at work on Thursday and then spent a nice evening with my gf, and poker would have been a bad idea. I don’t really want to go into the details about the work probs, but it basically involved a row with my boss and me telling them that if they keep heaping work and pressure on me, then it’s just not going be a good idea….

Anyway the evening with my gf was great. She cooked dinner while I planned everything we need for our up and coming camping holiday.

Anyway, last night (Friday) after work, I was invited to a friend’s flat for a live home game. There were 6 of us and I had played vs 1 of them before in a home tourney. He had finished 1st and me second, but I was confident I was a slightly better player and so I was really motivated for last night’s game.

Out of the other 4, there were 3 guys, 2 of whom had played quite a bit and the other one who had played before but not very much. Finally  one of the 2 guys who had played quite a bit brought his gf, and she had played a few times on the web apparently.

Although it wasn’t at my home, I offered to organise it if the host so wished. He was fine with that, so I provided the chips (Nexgens) and worked out the chip distribution and blind structure using the excellent http://www.homepokertourney.com/ web site for help.

Anyway, we played 2 games, the first one for no money (damn) and the second one for 2 Euros each – First prize – 8 Euros, second prize 4 Euros.  As you can see, these aren’t big money games, and I think that’s great! There’s just enough to make you want to win first prize, but if you lose, it’s the cost of a drink ! That suits me fine for a home game amongst friends. We all had a good evening, ate some pizza, drank some beers, played  5 hours of poker, and I got some valuable live experience

The first game, I started off very tight, and then got dealt pocket 7’s. I raised it up from mp and got 2 callers. Flop came 2 cards lower than 7, plus J I think.  I bet out and got 2 callers. Hmmm, I think I knew I was beat here. One of the callers was my good player friend, and there’s no way I can push 2 players of this (now pretty big) flop. The turn came a Q I think and I checked and folded to the bet. The hand didn’t get to showdown, but my judging by my friend’s face, he had a monster!

Anyway, that left me only about 600 chips (started with 1000) That’s the problem with STT’s – There’s very little room for manouver to really play poker. I used to play hundreds of these SNG’s online for a 10% ROI – And the strategy was to play very tight early and then losen up at end, and not bothering with hands like Suited connectors, small pairs (for set value) cos you’re just not deep enough to make them profitable.

So with the BB at 50 or so, I decided I was going to wait for a monster and grudgingly go all in and hope for a caller. Well that’s exactly what happened! I got dealt QQ and did the Hollywood act moaning about my short-stack and just said “all-in”  That’s when the female at the table started saying “DON’T CALL, he plays really tight” I felt like telling her to STFU, but realised that would be a tell, and decided to keep my mouth shut. Anyway I got 2 callers! My friend with KJo (I think) and another with TT!  Amazingly my ladies held up and I tripled up and eliminated the guy with TT

I now had chips and was feeling pretty confident. Chip leader on one hand started berating me for playing too tight on one hand when I open checked on a flop. He bet out for 300, and I check-raised all-in. He blushed a little bit before folding. He then STFU a bit after that.

A key hand heads up was when I went all-in with Q9s and the villain (berator) called with 58o !!! WTF ?!! I was trying not to laugh when the pot was pushed to me.

Anyway, I won the fun game, and the berator was clearly not too happy especially as he was with his gf and trying to make out he was Gus Hansen !

To cut a long story short for the real money game, I won that one too The table captain berator crashed out in 6th position having lost most of his stack in the first hand donk betting into an obvious Full-house

I was heads-up at the end with my good friend and I think we were both pleased that we were both going to win whatever happened! Final few hands, the blinds were 300/600 and it was basically all-in or fold.

I was in BB with AQs, he raised from the SB and I went all-in obv. He called, already knowing he was beat I think and showed 2 live cards. My hand held up and I won the game.

Overall, it was a good evening, but made me realise how hard it is to follow betting patterns, observe players in a live game, and to make mental notes. This is something I really need to work on! If anyone has any tips on this, I’d be grateful